Emerging Store Manager

Walgreens focuses on higher-performing ad placements: revives in-store digital screens. Published on 26 September 2026 at 2:14 pm - Written by Laura Spencer - Reading duration: 4 minutes Show summary Walgreens is rolling out a fresh wave of in-store digital screens this fall, aiming to turn pharmacy aisles and entryways into spots for educational advertising. The move, announced with in-store media company Looma, puts attention on targeted, context-aware messaging rather than loud interruptions. Walgreens taps Looma to place screens in 1,200 locations. Beginning in October, Walgreens will install digital displays in about 1,200 stores through a partnership with Looma. The decision follows a selection process that prioritized screens placed directly next to the products they reference. Looma brings an existing network to the table: more than 7,000 screens across multiple retail banners and access to roughly 13 million unique shoppers each month. For brands, that means campaigns that already run on Looma's network can now extend into Walgreens footprints. Placement and content: subtle, product-adjacent advertising. The new screens are designed to complement, not obscure, merchandising. They will be positioned to help shoppers discover products and learn about them. * Two large-format screens per participating store: one near the front and one in the pharmacy waiting area. * Digital end caps that can promote a single brand or present multi-brand educational content. * Programming featuring experts and creators across beauty, personal care, grocery, pharmacy, and wellness. Walgreens says the creative will be informational in tone, intended to aid purchase decisions rather than distract shoppers. How performance will be measured: moving beyond play counts. Walgreens emphasized measurement that tracks consumer behavior across the shopping journey. Instead of counting just how many times an ad played, the retailer will look at broader metrics that assess awareness, consideration, and conversion. Full-funnel measurement is central to the pitch, aligning in-store exposure with online and point-of-sale outcomes. Lessons from the Cooler Screens dispute. The move to Looma follows a high-profile clash with Cooler Screens, the startup that previously provided fridge-door displays for Walgreens. That earlier effort drew complaints after screens experienced technical failures and content errors. Walgreens and Cooler Screens later entered a legal dispute when the partnership unraveled. In contrast to those fridge-door panels, the new screens will sit beside products rather than replace the customer's view of real shelves. Why the pharmacy waiting area is a prime ad location. Retailers and researchers point to the pharmacy zone as a high-value site for in-store advertising. Customers often spend extra minutes waiting, which creates an opportunity for longer exposure. A March 2026 survey of more than 1,000 shoppers found consumers are relatively receptive to ads shown in pharmacy and other high-dwell spots. Analysts say high-quality, informative creative performs best in these contexts. Longer dwell-time equals higher attention, which can translate into stronger recall and influence at point of sale. What brands gain from the rollout. Brands that buy placement through Looma or Walgreens can expect several advantages: * Expanded reach into Walgreens' customer base without building new screen infrastructure. * Contextual adjacency - ads appear next to the relevant product or category. * Ability to run educational or expert-led content that supports purchase decisions. * Integration with full-funnel metrics to link in-store exposure with downstream results. Creative opportunities and examples. Content will likely include product demos, short expert segments, and seasonally relevant advice. That format seeks to inform shoppers rather than simply push discounts. Where this fits in the broader retail media landscape. Walgreens' update arrives amid a wider industry push to expand in-store digital ad programs. Competitors such as CVS have already installed digital end caps and dozens of waiting-area screens across their estate. CVS has reported plans for thousands of screens nationwide, including checkout and pharmacy displays. Executives at both chains describe digital placements as a strategic extension of their retail media businesses. Retailers refining the execution. After years of trial and error, retailers are converging on design principles that favor relevance and non-disruptive presentation. Analysts warn that poorly executed, noisy creative can harm the shopper experience. Properly produced ads - useful, concise, and context-aware - tend to be accepted by shoppers, industry experts say. Leadership and strategy shifts inside Walgreens. John Storms, Walgreens' vice president of digital and retail media, is overseeing the initiative. He joined the company after helping build Lowe's Media Network and after two decades at Target. Since his arrival, Walgreens has reconsidered its advertising playbook, focusing on higher-performing placements both online and inside stores. Storms credits Looma for an approach that keeps merchandising and shoppers top of mind. Operational details and rollout timing. The program launches in October and will roll into the selected 1,200 stores in phases. Each store will receive the store-front and pharmacy displays plus the digital end caps where applicable. * Oct - initial installations begin in selected regions. * Following months - measured rollout across the 1,200-store cohort. * Brands will be able to schedule campaigns and access reporting that links play to shopper behavior. Industry voices on what works in-store. Market observers stress the balance between monetization and customer experience. Ads that educate, remind, or suggest useful products tend to perform better than loud, interruptive messages. High-quality, relevant content wins in spaces where shoppers have time to process information, such as pharmacy lines and checkout areas. Give your feedback. Laura Spencer is your go-to guide for smart shopping. With years of experience in product reviews and consumer trends, she helps readers make confident, stylish choices. At Caroline Progress, Laura highlights the best deals and must-have finds. 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Walgreens opens new store in Hollywood, Florida. Walgreens said the new location is expected to play an important role in the neighborhood. September 21, 2026. 10:49 AM HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Walgreens has officially opened its new S Young Circle location in Hollywood, Fla., marking a milestone for the community by expanding access to pharmacy services, everyday retail products and local employment opportunities. The store, located at 1740 S. Young Circle, celebrated its grand opening Sept. 18 with Walgreens leadership, store team members and local residents in attendance. The event highlighted the retailer's commitment to serving the Hollywood community with convenient access to health care services and essential household needs. Walgreens said the new location is expected to play an important role in the neighborhood by providing access to prescription medications, health and wellness products, and other retail essentials while also creating local jobs. The grand opening ceremony took place throughout the morning and included participation from company leaders, employees and community members celebrating the launch of the new store.

Cencora highlights specialty growth, MSO expansion and Walgreens ties at conference. Cencora (NYSE:COR) executives highlighted the company's specialty pharmaceutical positioning, medical specialty organization strategy and capital-allocation priorities during an investor conference discussion, while reaffirming the durability of its relationship with Walgreens. Chief Executive Officer Bob Mauch said Cencora's growth is being supported by pharmaceutical innovation, demographic trends and the company's long-standing investments in specialty distribution and related services. He described pharmaceuticals as a cost-effective healthcare intervention and said the company is positioned to help manufacturers bring complex products to market while supporting providers and patients. "What is the driver of that growth is really the positioning that we have within the specialty pharmaceutical market," Mauch said. "You have this amazing innovation that's happening in pharma." Mauch said the company has spent more than two decades investing, competing and building capabilities in specialty care. Those capabilities include specialty distribution, group purchasing organization services and medical specialty organizations, or MSOs. He said Cencora aims to provide support in the background so providers can focus on patient care. New CFO sees broad services platform. Chief Financial Officer Eva Boratto, who joined Cencora near the end of June, said her decision to return to healthcare followed a career spanning pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck, Medco and CVS Health. She said her prior experience with Medco gave her familiarity with Cencora because Medco had been among the company's largest customers at the time. Boratto said Cencora's strategy and role in the pharmaceutical market were key attractions. She also said the evolving regulatory environment required learning, but did not deter her from taking the position. "The strategy that Bob has put together is so clear," Boratto said. "The importance of the role that we will play in the pharmaceutical space just excites me every day." She said the finance organization has substantial depth of talent and noted the support she received during the transition from former CFO Jim Cleary. Boratto also said she had underestimated, in a positive sense, the breadth of Cencora's services beyond logistics and distribution. Those services support hospital accounts, corporate partners and pharmacy partners, she said, with the goal of enabling those customers to grow. MSOs expected to become more important. Mauch said Cencora expects its MSO business to remain a profitable and growing part of the company and to contribute to an improving business mix over time. The company's MSO strategy is focused on pharmaceutical-centric specialties, particularly retina and oncology, he said. He emphasized that Cencora does not participate in clinical decision-making and that physicians retain clinical autonomy. Instead, the company views MSOs as an extension of its efforts to support physician practices and patient access. The company expects to continue adding physicians and smaller practices to its existing MSO platforms, Mauch said. He cited activity at Retina Consultants of America, or RCA, and OneOncology, while noting these smaller additions are less likely to generate headlines than larger acquisitions. Boratto said management is evaluating how its disclosures should evolve as specialty and MSO operations become a larger and faster-growing part of the business. She said greater transparency could help investors better assess the company's growth opportunities and capital deployment. "As we head into 2027, it is something that is really top of mind for us," Boratto said of disclosure considerations. Clinical research support without owning a CRO. Mauch said Cencora sees clinical trial support as complementary to its specialty-focused strategy, particularly through its World Courier business and physician networks. World Courier provides global clinical logistics for trials involving complex therapies, including cell therapies and gene therapies, he said. Cencora also sees clinical research support within its MSO platforms as useful for patient care, patient access and physician recruitment, according to Mauch. However, he said the company does not see a need to acquire and operate a contract research organization, or CRO. "We like the way we are playing in this space," Mauch said. "I don't think that if we owned a CRO, that we would be a better site management organization or that we would be a better global logistics provider." Instead, the company intends to support CROs and pharmaceutical manufacturers in executing trials and enrolling patients, he said. Capital deployment and Walgreens relationship. On capital allocation, Boratto said Cencora's priorities remain unchanged. They include investing in the business, pursuing tuck-in acquisitions that enhance its existing portfolio, opportunistic share repurchases, dividend growth in line with earnings growth and maintaining a strong balance sheet. * Continue investing in core operations and MSO platforms. * Focus M&A on smaller tuck-in opportunities rather than pursuing new major adjacencies. * Use share repurchases opportunistically. * Grow the dividend consistently with earnings growth. Mauch said the company has deployed significant capital to its MSO strategy in recent years and remains focused on adding to those businesses rather than prioritizing a separate adjacency. Addressing recent attention surrounding Walgreens distribution activity, Mauch declined to discuss specific details but said such changes can occur in large customer relationships. He said Cencora continues to value its customer portfolio, including Walgreens, and pointed to the history and integration of the companies' relationship. Cencora has a U.S. contract with Walgreens through 2029 and an agreement with Boots in the United Kingdom through 2031, Mauch said. "We expect to continue to support them throughout that time," he said. About Cencora (NYSE:COR). Cencora, Inc (NYSE:COR) is a global healthcare company that provides pharmaceutical sourcing, distribution and related services. The company connects biopharmaceutical manufacturers with pharmacies, hospitals, health systems, physician practices and other healthcare providers, helping move prescription medicines and healthcare products through the supply chain. Cencora's operations include pharmaceutical distribution, specialty pharmaceutical services, manufacturer support and patient-centered solutions.