Three ways Walgreens is using IT to improve the customer experience

Retail service providers listening to Walgreens’ SVP and CIO Tim Theriault speak during a session on IT innovation learned a valuable lesson in how not to sell their products. “We’re not here to chase technology because it’s cool,” he said. In fact, Theriault says he ignores “the herd mentality” – the concept pushed by some suppliers that he should invest in a particular program or technology because everyone else is.

“Many retailers are doing great things with technology, and they’re probably right for their company,” he said. “But they’re not necessarily right for Walgreens.”

Walgreens SVP and CIO Tim Theriault

Instead, Theriault suggested, the best way to get his attention – and business – is to understand the company’s specific priorities and make recommendations for how technology can enhance its goals. During the session, Theriault outlined three ways Walgreens’ IT group is currently helping different facets of the $63 billion company leverage technology to create more meaningful customer relationships.

Order online, deliver to your car – ie: Outback’s curbside pick-up meets over-the-counter meds and prescriptions.

What’s behind the current pilot program? It’s all about convenience, Theriault said. Walgreens’ core customer is women – active women, usually with children. Instead of being required to schlep the kids and all their gear into the store to pick up a prescription or a gallon of milk, shoppers would be able to buy over the Internet or through a mobile device, then have their order delivered to their car once they pull into the parking lot. (You can almost hear a collective cheer rising up among moms in America.) Theriault admitted that the program, which is currently being tested in a handful of stores in California and Illinois, sounds easy but is quite complicated. From a technology standpoint, the company would need an embedded server in each store with real-time inventory and pricing information. Not an easy task.

Providing employees with technology to help them do their jobs.

The company is trying to redefine itself from a retailer to a service organization, Theriault said, and much of that starts with engaging employees to the highest degree possible. Next month, the company will begin testing touch devices for employees that act as phones, scanners, and even a point-of-sale. Why? “We have 14 phones in the store and when it rings you have to go answer it,” Theriault said. “That’s not a great way to think about how employees should be engaged. We want to give them what they need right on their belt.”

The company is also planning to implement wireless for employees, which it believes will help improve customer service.

Centralizing all customer information into one data warehouse.

With the company’s expanded focus on health care, Theriault said, it’s increasingly important to have customers’ necessary information available at every point of sale and point of care – in any location. Once that information is centralized, Walgreens can optimize the experience by diving deeper into analytics: providing appropriate information to certain customers on diabetes management, for instance, or offering suggestions on accompanying products or foods that may help customers facing specific medical conditions.

Theriault said one priority of the company is “to move from transactions to relationships” and to really understand customers, especially as it pertains to health care. “We have 6 million people coming into our stores every day. If we can understand the customers’ preferences, it will build on loyalty. And that gives us an opportunity.” An opportunity not only to provide great service, but also to increase sales.