Boost in Walgreens’ July sales

DEERFIELD, Ill. — July sales at Walgreens experienced an 8% boost. They totaled $6.03 billion, up from $5.59 billion for the same month in fiscal 2012.

Comparable-store sales increased by 6.3% in July. Calendar day shifts positively impacted total comparable sales by 1.4 percentage points, while generic drug introductions in the last 12 months negatively impacted total comparable sales by 1.8 percentage points.

Total front-end sales increased 3.6% compared with the same month in fiscal 2012, while comparable store front-end sales increased 2.3%. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 1.2% while basket size increased 3.5%.

Prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased by 9.5% in July and increased 7.3% on a calendar day-shift adjusted basis. This year’s July had one additional Wednesday and one fewer Sunday compared with July 2012. These calendar shifts positively impacted prescriptions filled at comparable stores by 2.2 percentage points. The company noted that the percentage of Express Scripts prescriptions returning to its pharmacies continued to increase in July.

July pharmacy sales increased by 9.9%, while comparable store pharmacy sales increased 8.8% and increased by a calendar day-shift adjusted 6.6%. Calendar day shifts positively impacted pharmacy sales in comparable stores by 2.2 percentage points. Calendar day-shift adjusted comparable store pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 2.8 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months. Pharmacy sales accounted for 64.6% of total sales for the month.

The pharmacy retailer also stated that registrations for Walgreens Balance Rewards loyalty program, which launched in September 2012, totaled 79 million through July.

Calendar 2013 sales to date were $42.02 billion, an increase of 3.4% from $40.64 billion in 2012.

Fiscal 2013 year-to-date sales for the first 11 months were $66.05 billion, up 0.4% from $65.79 billion in the comparable period in fiscal 2012.