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Meet the typical Walgreens shopper, a white college-educated suburban baby boomer earning $80,000

Dominick Reuter   

Meet the typical Walgreens shopper, a white college-educated suburban baby boomer earning $80,000
Retail2 min read
  • Walgreens has nearly 8,900 stores in the US and filled 819 million prescriptions last year.
  • The pharmacy's customer loyalty percentage is slightly above that of chief competitor CVS.

Walgreens is one of the leading drugstore chains in the US and Europe, with worldwide sales of $132.7 billion last year. The company estimates that 78% of the US population lives within five miles of one of its pharmacies, and it filled 819.6 million prescriptions in 2022.

The retailer, founded in 1901, is based in Deerfield, Illinois. Walgreens which also owns Duane Reade and other health brands, has about 8,900 retail locations across the US and Puerto Rico. The company also has 124 standalone clinics.

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 a little more than once a month on average — about 16 trips per year — and picks up 4 products for a total cost of $23.25 per trip, Numerator found. Their annual spend is about $384.

Prescription medication constitutes 74% of Walgreens' US retail revenue, and the drugstore offers a variety of over-the-counter medical supplies, personal-care items, food and beverages. These front-of-store sales account for the remaining 26% of retail revenue.

Nearly 86% of Walgreens shoppers visited the store in 2021 and 2022, a loyalty percentage slightly higher than that of chief rival CVS. 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.

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