Rebooting Health, Beauty & Wellness at Scale - Heather Hughes, Walgreens

Almost 80% of Americans live within 5 miles of a Walgreens.

Founder Charles R. Walgreen Sr. established the brand in 1901 as a single location pharmacy in Chicago, which grew into an integrated healthcare, pharmacy and retailer—which filled approximately 820 million prescriptions and immunizations in the US last year alone.

Now part of Walgreens Boots Alliance, the largest retail, health, pharmacy and daily living destination across the U.S and Europe, the brands serve millions of walk in customers, patients and omni-channel shoppers’ every day. The combined entity was founded 170 years ago, is an index component of the Dow Jones sustainability indices (DJSI), with 13,000 locations and 325,000 people that delivered $130 billion in revenue last year.

Heading the multibillion-dollar Beauty, Personal care & Seasonal category at Walgreens is Group Vice President and General Merchandise leader Heather Hughes, a trained pharmacist—a rare profile for a retail executive. Her unique background is just what the doctor ordered, as Walgreens looks to reboot the category and take health, beauty, and wellness to the next level of growth and innovation. Heather joined me for an episode of The Reboot Chronicles, to give us a behind the scenes view of what’s new and what’s next.