If you read Jim Collins' masterpiece Good to Great*, you know that Walgreens has a hedgehog concept (mission/vision) to be the most convenient drug store in the world. As a result, all of their stores are on the corner (for easy access), they have highly sophisticated and integrated pharmacy technology (so all stores are linked), and they offer a host of high-margin products (photo, Hallmark) that customers are willing to pay premium prices for because of the convenience. The model seems to be working well for them.
Walgreens fascinates me not because of that, but because of the plethora of products this average size store holds. In Walgreen's advertising flyer this week they featured cottage cheese, pet beds, coffee makers, boxer briefs, and irons! You would expect a wide variety in a big discount store like Target, but not at the corner drug store.
At first glance, it could seem that Walgreens' product mix has no rhyme or reason, but at its core all these items are something that you may need to pick up conveniently: cottage cheese ran out, got a new puppy, coffeemaker or iron died, or luggage was lost so you need new skivvies. If you need something now, Walgreens probably has it. It seems like they have everything! Walgreens hasn't strayed from their hedgehog; they have perfected it.
Think about your organization. How can you remain loyal and true to your mission, but expand your offerings beyond what your competitors would expect? Going back to Simon Sinek's WHY, WHAT, HOW hierarchy (see #433), if you stay focused on the "why", a world of possibilities opens up for the "what".
-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
*if you haven't read it, I would recommend it as the most influential book I have read
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