Comment: Walgreens and Boots demonstrate importance of customer loyalty

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Whether walking into a store anywhere across the globe or connecting online, it remains true that creating customer loyalty is at the heart of successful retail.

This fact rises to the top, as I think about some of the similarities and differences I’ve noticed since relocating to work within Walgreens, the largest drugstore chain in the US.

Two years ago, Alliance Boots and Walgreens entered into a strategic partnership to create the first global pharmacy-led, health, beauty and wellbeing enterprise. A big connection between these companies is that Boots was one of the UK’s first high street retailers, and Walgreens is known for having stores on the best corners across America.

Today, both remain well-positioned having successfully defined customer loyalty in the market for well over 100 years.

The customer segments and behaviours of shoppers in the UK and in the US are not all that different.

However, high streets don’t exist in America in the same way they do in the UK. Rather, American retail is strongly driven by convenience. In general, the desire for speed in the US makes high-traffic street corners and shopping centres, also known as ‘strip malls’, very desirable locations.

Convenience in both the States and the UK is now being redefined by digital. American shoppers seem more comfortable or maybe more used to purchasing online. UK retailers, including many famous, high-status names are successfully adopting an omnichannel approach – clicks and bricks – to keep customers loyal. It will be interesting to see if both countries end up with the same seamless integration across all channels.

The adoption of mobile apps in the US appears to be slightly quicker than in the UK. The ability of many retailers and service providers to integrate their apps to partners’ platforms is a strength and consumers can adapt very quickly.

Convenience is key in the States. For example, same-day delivery of fast food is common in major cities.

Adoption of same-day delivery is already in play in other categories. For instance, the Google platform of which Walgreens is part of in San Francisco.

I believe that retailers in the UK have become stronger in supply chain management. Maybe it’s the relative size of the two countries.

To stay ahead in a very competitive UK marketplace, businesses have to be efficient and fast to market. In the US, the best mass retailing I’ve seen is in the regional grocery chains such as Publix, Wegmans and H-E-B, which are great mass retailers that offer outstanding customer value.

Creating ongoing customer loyalty is about giving customers what they expect, customer value – a combination of price, service, quality and convenience.