Walgreens Searches for Puerto Rican Suppliers

Drug store chain to hold event for community-relevant vendors to virtually pitch their products

10/19/2023

Walgreens is inviting diverse, local and regional Puerto Rican vendors to participate in a localization summit.

Walgreens has revealed that it will conduct its first-ever Puerto Rico Localization Summit, a virtual showcase for diverse, local and regional businesses and entrepreneurs to share their retail offerings with the merchants of the national drug store chain. The virtual event, hosted by RangeMe and ECRM, gives local suppliers the opportunity to connect with the Walgreens merchandising team, share their products and receive feedback with the ultimate goal of being stocked on Walgreens shelves in their local areas.

The merchandising event will take place on Dec. 12-13 and focus on products across grocery and household, apparel, beach, tourism, and general merchandise, among other categories. Suppliers can find additional information about the virtual event and apply to attend here.

Building on the success of this year’s localization summit, Walgreens aims to bring in local businesses, to evaluate opportunities to build more locally relevant product offerings for Walgreens customers in Puerto Rico and deeper collaboration with new suppliers for the future.

“To be a trusted health and well-being destination, we work hard to remain relevant for customers in each of our communities and curate a selection of products and services that meet their unique needs,” said Luke Rauch, Walgreens’ chief marketing officer and SVP. “When our shelves reflect the communities we serve, we can better live out our purpose of more joyful lives through better health.”

All sourcing and product submissions will be made through San Francisco-based RangeMe, the industry-standard online product discovery and sourcing platform. Walgreens will review submissions, and will invite selected suppliers for face-to-face virtual meetings with buyers on Solon, Ohio-based ECRM’s industry-leading virtual meeting platform, ECRM Connect, where chosen suppliers can introduce innovative products into the marketplace. ECRM’s dedicated support team will help ensure that buyer and seller connections are executed seamlessly.

Walgreens released its fourth-quarter and full fiscal year results last week. While quarterly sales grew 9.2% and fiscal year sales rose 4.8% on a year-over-year basis, earnings came in lower than expected. Adjusted net earnings were down 17.1% for the quarter and 20.5% for the year.

[Read more: “Walgreens Pharmacists Walk Off the Job”]

Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens, which operates nearly 9,000 retail locations across the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is No. 5 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.