Walgreens announced plans this week to cut more than $1 billion in its annual costs over the next three years. The chain hopes that the cost-cutting plan will help it stay competitive in the changing retail landscape.
In a conference call with analysts, Walgreens Chief Executive Stefano Pesina said Thursday the drugstore would be targeting its pharmaceutical wholesale division as well as its retail business in Chile and Mexico and its retail pharmacy division in the U.S.
Walgreens sales for the last quarter rose 9.9% to $33.8 billion, analysts had expected the chain to report $33.78 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Walgreens recently acquired Rite Aid stores and has entered into partnerships with Kroger, FedEx, Humana Inc, and Alphabet’s Verily. Next year Kroger plans on opening Kroger Express sections of Walgreens that will sell groceries. Walgreens plans to open the initially at 13 Walgreens stores in the Cincinnati area.
The company also recently teamed up to FedEx for a next-day prescription home-delivery service called Walgreens Express as a way to compete with Amazon and its online pharmacy service PillPack. CVS launched a home delivery service with the U.S Postal Service in June.