Robin Kosiek, director of healthcare real estate at Walgreens, said the company is looking for ways to leverage the value of its real estate. She said that Walgreens’ stores are located in prime locations that offer opportunity for partner businesses to get closer to their customer base.
To start, the FedEx program will be rolled out to select stores. Kosiek expects by the end of Walgreens’ fiscal year, FedEx will be available in all stores.
Under the agreement, FedEx users will have the ability to pick their packages up and drop them off at Walgreens stores. This gives them an alternative to visiting a FedEx store or having their packages delivered to their home. Customers will have to label and pack their items ahead of time.
Raj Subramaniam, the chief marketing and communications officer of FedEx, said that Walgreens is the perfect company to help them meet the demand for convenient and secure drop-off and pickup options. He added that the company’s research has shown that customers rank pharmacies as a good location for accessing their eCommerce shipments.
This new alliance with FedEx doesn’t seem to extend into the ongoing Walgreens/RiteAid merger, which is on track to create the largest drugstore operation in the U.S. with 46 percent market share. The deal will leave the two brands with a proposed combination of a little under 12,000 stores — a majority of which will now also offer FedEx pick up and drop off within the next year-and-a-half.
The partnership doesn’t appear to extend into the Walgreens and RiteAid merger, which will create the largest drugstore operation in the United States when the merger is completed. Combined, the two brands will have just under 12,000 stores and they will have 46 percent market share.
