Walgreens to boost its Kroger partnership

Walgreens has seen its food trials with Kroger have some success, and it said it plans to grow the partnership.

In its April 2 Second Quarter earnings conference call, Alex Gourlay, co-chief operating officer and president of Walgreens, said, “We see a reason to move forward faster with Kroger.”

“I go back to the importance of food, the importance of footfall in our stores and we recognize that we have a very low market share in food and we recognize that Kroger is a food expert and a national food expert here in the U.S.,” he said.

“And we’re encouraged with the money we’ve spend in the early tests and trials and we believe there is more to test and trial for sure before we can be certain of this.”

Walgreens announced its worst quarter in five years on the call.

The drugstore chain launched its initial pilot with Kroger in 13 Walgreens stores in Northern Kentucky, near Kroger’s Cincinnati headquarters, offering Kroger grocery items for online order pickup.

It increased the partnership in December, as 65 Chicago-area Walgreens stores gave consumers access to meal kits from Kroger.

The food expansion has Walgreens executives excited.

“We’re really very pleased with that and we expect to be able to move that test and trial further forward going forward and of course that is more focused on creating two things, first of all, convenience in retail between a fantastic grocer and food brand in Kroger and obviously our pharmacy and healthcare and beauty brands here in Walgreens,” Gourlay said.