Walgreen Co.

Major changes in retailers’ use of digital coupons and free standing insert promotions were evident in 2013 and especially pronounced at Walmart, Target and Kroger, according to an extensive analysis conducted by the Marx division of Kantar Media.

Retailers’ overall advertising expenditures were relatively in 2013 when compared to the prior year; however, there were large spikes in digital coupon events and free standing insert (FSI) coupon promotion pages.
 

Covington, La. — Stirling Properties has announced the opening of a full-service Walgreens in Terrytown on the Westbank of New Orleans. The new drugstore stands on the site of a former shopping center anchored by an A&P Grocery store and an Eckerd Drug store.

New York -- Duane Reade and Poncho, a personalized weather-forecasting service that sends users relevant weather updates tailored to their preferences via text or email, are teaming up in a pilot program targeted to the New York Metropolitan area consumer. Poncho users will receive their regular weather updates with select alerts featuring coupons for Duane Reade products that will help them battle the elements and their allergies.

Deerfield Park, Ill. -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights is reportedly investigating privacy practices at the new Well Experience stores run by Walgreens. According to the Wall Street Journal, the investigation is focusing on whether pharmacist consultations with customers at Well Experience Stores violate the privacy of patient medical data.

Personalized weather provider Poncho has developed an innovative way to monetize its content through a shopper marketing initiative with the Duane Reade division of Walgreens.

In a pilot program with Duane Reade, users of the Poncho service who sign up to receive weather updates tailored to their preferences via text or email will also receive promotional incentives from Duane Reade. The program is targeted to New York metropolitan area consumers where Duane Reade’s more than 250 stores are concentrated.

In the competitive world of low-cost retailers, Target has led the pack. The leak of millions of customers’ personal data with implications of identity theft and fraud called into question their status as one of the top-retailers and has had their executives reeling. Although it's been months since the initial data breach, the crisis still isn't over. Target just reported less-than-stellar fourth quarter earnings, which were at least partly impacted by the breach, and the company still faces costs estimated at up to $1 billion as fallout from the data breach.

Deerfield Park, Ill. – Total sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 at Walgreens were $19.61 billion, up 5.2% from $18.65 billion in the same quarter in the prior year. Same-store sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 increased 4.5%, while front-end same-store sales for the quarter increased 2%. Prescriptions filled at same stores increased 2.4% in the second quarter and same-store pharmacy sales increased 6.1%.

Think brick-and-mortar retail is doomed in an increasingly digital world? Visit Sephora, where consumers line up to sample the dizzying array of beauty products. Watch as a bunch of excited kids go through the rounds at Build-A-Bear-Workshop. Listen as a pharmacist at Walgreens gives some advice to a harried mom whose kids are coming down with something. Stop in at H-E-B, Whole Foods Market or some other great supermarket and breathe in the tantalizing aromas. Fool around with the latest gadgets at Apple or one of the new generation of AT&T and Verizon stores.

Fort Worth, Texas -- RadioShack Corp. said it plans to close up to 1,100 stores, approximately one-fifth of its total, and also announced a disappointing holiday season and a wider quarterly loss. The shutterings will leave the chain, whose turnaround appears to be still far off, with over 4,000 locations, including more than 900 dealer franchise locations.

San Diego — The Mansour Group has arranged the sale of a portfolio of 10 Walgreens properties located in secondary and tertiary markets throughout the Mid-south  in Arkansas Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Camden, N.J.

Mansour had the exclusive listing to market the properties on behalf of the seller, a private partnership. After generating more than three dozen offers, the portfolio sold to a private California 1031 exchange buyer who completed the sale of a multi-family property in San Francisco.