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- Walgreens has more than 9,000 stores in the US and filled 818 million prescriptions last year.
- The pharmacy’s customer loyalty percentage is slightly above average for major retailers.
- Walgreens’ average customer is a white suburban Baby Boomer earning over $80,000 per year.
Walgreens is one of the leading drugstore chains in the US and Europe, with worldwide sales of $139.5 billion last year. The company estimates that 78% of the US population lives within five miles of one of its pharmacies, and it filled 818 million prescriptions in 2020.
Originally founded in 1901 and based in Deerfield, Illinois, there now are over 9,000 Walgreens and Duane Reade retail locations across the US employing roughly 450,000 workers worldwide.
Slightly less than two-thirds of all US shoppers are Walgreens customers, according to data from the analytics firm Numerator prepared for Insider.
Numerator found that Walgreens’ typical shopper is a white suburban Baby Boomer who has a college education and an annual income of more than $80,000. The brand is also very popular among Black and Latino shoppers with similar education and income.
The typical customer visits Walgreens every three weeks on average — about 22 trips per year — and picks up 4 products for a total cost of $22.50 per trip, Numerator found.
Prescription medication constitutes about 75% of Walgreens’ US retail pharmacy revenues, and the drugstore offers a variety of over-the-counter medical supplies, personal-care items, food and beverages. This retail revenue accounts for the remaining 25% of the same segment.
Three-quarters of Walgreens shoppers visited the store in 2020 and 2021, a loyalty percentage that is slightly higher than the other leading retailers in the survey. Last year, the pharmacy added a new customer to replace each one that stopped shopping with the brand, indicating a stable customer base overall.
Like CVS shoppers, Walgreens customers have an affinity for M&M’s and Reese’s candies and Hallmark greeting cards, but prefer Coca Cola sodas where CVS customers prefer Colgate toothpaste.
Some of their favorite categories to buy from the pharmacy include candy and soft drinks, as well as first-aid supplies, cough and cold remedies, and digestive health products. Just 1.3% of a Walgreens shopper’s total dollars are spent at Walgreens, compared with 11% of their spending at Walmart.
Read more typical shopper profiles:
- Walmart: A 59-year-old white suburban woman earning $80,000 a year
- Costco: A 39-year-old Asian American woman earning more than $125,000 a year
- Target: A millennial suburban mom with a household income of $80,000
- Whole Foods: A highly educated West Coast millennial woman earning $80,000
- Amazon: A college-educated married woman in the South earning $80,000
- Dollar General: An older rural worker with a high school education and an income of less than $40,000
- Trader Joe’s: A younger, married, college-educated person earning over $80,000
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