Product Market Analysis Stock: Walgreen Co. (WAG) 52 Wks Price Information: Hi Lo EPS DPS Price Buy date: 1-18-06 49 41 1.57 .26 43.91 Sell date: 4-19-06 49 41 1.57 .26 44.12 Walgreen Co. engages in the retail sale of prescription and nonprescription drugs, and general merchandise, through a drugstore chain in the United States. It is the nation’s largest drugstore chain by sales. General merchandise includes cosmetics, toiletries, household items, food, beverages, and photofinishing. It also provides services at the drugstore counter, as well as through the mail, by telephone, and on the Internet. As of October 31, 2005, the company operated 5,000 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico. In addition, it operated 3 mail service facilities. Walgreen Co. was founded by Charles R. Walgreen, Sr. in 1901. The company is based in Deerfield, Illinois. Walgreen’s had March sales of $4,086,720,000, an increase of 9.2 percent from $3,742,653,000 for the same month in 2005. Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) rose 4.3 percent. This year's March sales were affected by an unfavorable comparison of a March Easter season last year versus an April Easter this year (March 27 last year compared to April 16 this year). To account for the Easter effect, Walgreen’s will report next month total and comparable store sales for both April and for the combined months of March and April. March pharmacy sales increased 13.0 percent, while comparable pharmacy sales increased 8.6 percent. Total prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 3.4 percent. Pharmacy sales accounted for 66.3 percent of total sales for the month. This year's March had one additional Friday and one fe... ... middle of paper ... ...lible, however, having declining periods from time to time. The company can never be complacent because it constantly is being tested by consumer attitudes, weather and lofty expectations. Because prescription drugs account for over 60 percent of sales, there are concerns about drug competition, the national pharmacist shortage, lower reimbursement rates and potentially unfavorable legislation. Walgreen’s is constantly building, with more than 5,000 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico. Sales growth at existing locations is very impressive, and it leads the industry in 24 hour and drive-through stores. It has had numerous years of higher dividends and features a strong balance sheet with no debt and generates lots of cash. Overall, this company is a safe stock to have for years to come. Their history precedes them and has a guaranteed future in the U.S. nation.
Walgreens was founded in 1901 measuring 50 feet by 20 feet by Charles R. Walgreen, Sr.. Mr. Walgreen was born near Galesburg, Illinois and his family later relocated to Dixon, Illinois at town about 60 miles north of his birthplace. Mr. Walgreens’ father was a farmer who turned into a businessperson and saw a great potential of the Rock River Valley (Walgreen, n.d., p.1). At age 16, Charles Walgreen had his first experience working in a drug store. He didn’t always have pleasurable experiences but it was a job with pay. He had an accident at a shoe factory that cut off his left middle finger from the top joint. This injury also stops him from playing any sports at school. After a year and a half with the drug store, Mr. Walgreen left to pursue something bigger in the big city-Chicago.
Walgreens is a very well known name when it comes to drugstores. However, most people don’t know how big “big” is. In this case it is 7,015 stores nationwide. On average, each store has 30 employees on staff. This means that the company has 211,000 employees working for them. This type of responsibility calls for an HR department. In this company however it is done a little differently. When it comes to hiring staff for a store, it is solely up to the store manager. The HR department functions as a reference source for the store managers only (typically in cases of discipline). This is a great undertaking for a store manager when they are first promoted. As a store manager, you are faced with ever...
Rite Aid Corp. sells “prescription drugs and a wide assortment of general merchandise that they call ‘front-end products,’ including over-the-counter medications, health and beauty aids and personal care items, cosmetics, greeting cards, household items, convenience foods, photo processing services, and seasonal merchandise.” They are distinguished “from other national chain drugstores, in part, through their private label brands, their ‘stores-within-Rite Aid stores’ program with GNC and by their Internet presence. The sale of prescription drugs alone represents 59.5% of their total sales. Over-the-counter drugs and personal care items (10.9%), health and beauty aids (5.8%), and general merchandise (23.8%) account for the remaining 40.5% of their total 2001 fiscal year sales.
Walgreens ensures to have high quality products and solutions by making it convenient for clients to get in and out with what they actual need, enhancing its beauty products and stimulate the convergence of health care by putting everything together. In addition, by utilizing over-the counter health service and providing wellness products, the company helps its customer to find more seamless solutions. Employees are trained to make friends and build relationship internally with their customer. Beyond accelerating the products in the physical store, delivering well experiences to customers also need highly engaged employees offer superior customer care in every community. In addition to provide outstanding customer service in retail stores, the company started a piloting program where people are able to order their prescriptions through phone and takes advantage of convenient curbside pick up. In essence, this action partly shifts Walgreens from a retailer to a service based organization. As a result, through the functional strategy in the company, customers can undergo the differential shopping experiences compared to other drugstore in the industry, and the company can improve its positive reputation and customer
Walmart defied the traders’ speculations and had them turnaround a few weeks before it issued 2017 Q3 earnings report on Thursday November 16 which proved
In America, it has become a battle to earn a high paying job to cope with the expenses of a typical American. It has become even more of a battle for some people to afford medical prescriptions to keep healthy. Health becomes a crucial issue when discussed among people. No matter what, at one point or another, everyone is going to stand as a victim of the pharmaceutical industry. The bottom line is Americans are paying excessive amounts of money for medical prescriptions. Health-Care spending in the U.S. rose a stunning 9.3% in 2002, which is the greatest increase for the past eleven years. (Steele 46) Many pharmaceutical companies are robbing their clients by charging extreme rates for their products.
For 2004, Wal-Mart earned 256 billion in revenues which from sales alone was 26 billion.
Wal-Mart initially began its operations in 1945, when Sam Walton leased a ‘Ben Franklin’ franchise variety store in Newport, Arkansas. After relocating to Rogers, Arkansas in the early 1950s, Sam Walton’s ‘Ben Franklin’ became ‘Walton’s 5 & 10’. By 1962, Walton found himself the chain owner of 11 different Walton’s stores across Arkansas. He then decided to rename the chain ‘Wal-Mart’, after himself. On October 31, 1969, after further expansion across the state, the chain was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Three years later, Wal-Mart was approved and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Prescription drug prices rose three times faster than inflation in the decade between 1981 and 1991, making the pharmaceutical industry the nation's most profitable business. Prescription drugs even exceeded the rapidly rising inflation rate for all other medical services. They now represent at least 10% of all the medical costs in the United States.1
...emand for prescription drugs over the next 25 years. The number of people between 45 and 64 years old will increase 41% by 2015. Given the rise in age population and life expectancy rates around the world and the level of pharmaceutical use by aging individuals, growth in the industry should remain in an upward trend.
... middle of paper ... ... Six years later, in 2001, the majority of their income came from services to pharmaceutical companies (Martinez). This shows a definitive shift in the conduct of PBM’s.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is in the discount, variety stores industry. It was founded in 1945, Bentonville in Arkansas which is also the headquarters of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart operates locally as well as worldwide. It operated 1209 discount stores, 1980 super centers, and 567 Sam’s Club by January 31, 2006. It has also extended its operations to many international countries. It runs its retail stores in two forms: Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart Stores. The Sam’s Club sells assorted product lines such as hardwares, electronics, jewelry, and to mention a few. The Wal-Mart stores also offer similar products in addition to the following: health and beauty products, apparel for women, men and children, household appliances etc (www.yahoo.finance.com). The Vision Statement, Mission Statement, Values and Code of Conduct, Corporate Governance: Directors, Executive Management, Committees and Stakeholder will be the key elements that will discussed in this report as it relates to Wal-Mart. In addition to that, the major trends in the general/macro environment and industry will be analyzed.
Today Wal-Mart servers around 130 Million people world wide and it has employees over 1.3 million people across the globe. They have been increase in growth of sales over 11% which amounted $6.4 billion US dollars. The earnings of the Wal-Mart are far ahead of its French competitors Carrefour although it is having its branches in 32 countries it earning and saving far behind. With wide range of suppliers the Wal-Mart has it has been one of the successful retail chains in the world today.
The first Wal-Mart was opened in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. By 1969 it was incorporated into Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and in 1972 went public on the New York Stock Exchange. The company grew steadily across the United States, and by 1990 was the nation's largest retailer. In 1991 and 1994, Wal-Mart moved into Mexico and Canada respectively. By 1997 it was incorporated into the Dow Jones Industrial Average. As of 2005, Wal-Mart has stores in the United Kingdom, and Puerto Rico, and brings in revenue of close to 300 billion dollars a year. In 2006, Wal-Mart invaded the China and India's markets. During the last two decades, Wal-Mart has been able to take advantage of the rise of information technology and the explosion of the global economy to change the balance of power in the business world (Wikipedia, 2006). Today Wal-Mart continues to grow and their success is not only from their sound strategic management planning but also from its implementation of those strategic plans. In other words operational planning has been an important key to their success.
But, perhaps the most revolutionary was the practice of unprecedented coordination with suppliers (Chekwa, 2015, Page 62). Gross profit during the year 2015 was actually a $10 billion increase from fiscal year 2014 (University of San Francisco, 2015). Over the past six years, Walmart continues to generate these types of numbers, representing increases in growth, time and time again. The company’s income was generated by more than 4,500 stores in the United States alone, which is supported by a supply chain that moved from number 14 to number 13 on research and analyst company Gartner’s annual ranking (University of San Francisco, 2015). Many business professionals have analyzed and interpreted Walmart’s supply chain management approaches, making it apparent which elements of their strategy have proven effective.