Five years ago Walgreens obtained drugstore.com at the equity value of $429 million, and now they have made the decision to no longer keep the website and beauty.com running. Then CEO of Walgreens Greg Wasson had hopes to “accelerate our online strategy to leverage the best community store network in America by becoming the most convenient choice for health and daily living needs.”
Walgreen’s focus for the company is being taken in a different direction. “Over the past year, we have been focusing on building new omni-channel capabilities on Walgreens.com with initiatives that improved assortment and website user experiences, enhanced our digital coupon capabilities to provide more customer value, and added digital tools into our stores to elevate our shopping experiences,” says Walgreens.
Though some employment positions with Drugstore.com at the Bellevue office will not be moving forward, the company’s spokesperson Phill Caruso, says they plan to figure out a permanent path for those remaining.
Walgreen is aware closing down Drugstore.com will force pre-taxe charges of estimated nearly $115 million but will take action with their decision in September.
