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Boots Co. PLC
Total Sales
$22.2 billion in international sales for fiscal 2023 (ended Aug. 31, 2023)
Total stores
2,232 in the U.K.
Key Facts
- Boots UK is part of the Retail Pharmacy International Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance
- About 85% of the U.K.’s population is within 10 minutes of a Boots store
- Boots.com is the U.K.’s most visited health and beauty website. For January 2023, Statista reported Boots.com had 15.9 million visits
- There are 15.75 million active Boots Advantage Card loyalty program members
- The Boots mobile application has 6.2 million active users
- The health and beauty retailer is celebrating its 175th anniversary throughout 2024
Key Executives
- Interim CEO, Walgreens Boots Alliance: Ginger Graham
- Chief Marketing Officer: Pete Markey
- Chief Digital Officer: Paula Bobbett
- Chief Information Officer: Richard Corbridge
- Senior Vice President, President and Managing Director of Boots UK & ROI: Sebastian James
- Vice President and Director of Communications, CSR and Sustainability: Lucy Reynolds
Market Position and Strategy Overview
Market Position and Strategy Overview
Boots UK is a pharmacy-led health and beauty retail business. A market leader, Boots says it’s the top high street and online beauty destination in the U.K. Besides selling health and wellness, beauty, personal care and other consumer products, the pharmacy and medical side fills prescriptions, offers medical consultations, and provides health and optical services online and at select locations. (Optical services are available at 543 locations, with 30% located in Boots stores, and the remainder being stand-alones.)
Boots operates 2,232 branded stores in the U.K. and Ireland, as well as stores under different banners around the world (Boots in Thailand, Benavides in Mexico, and Ahumada in Chile). The company also has a wholesale and distribution business in Germany, which distributes prescription medications to pharmacies and healthcare facilities.
For 2022, 17% of sales were pharmacy, 32% retail and 51% wholesale.
Boots’ roots date back to the mid-19th century, beginning as a family herbal medicine shop. A partial timeline:
- 1849: John Boot opened a herbalist shop in Nottingham.
- 1883: Boots & Company Ltd. formed, and the following year the company hired its first pharmacist. In the years that followed, it began manufacturing products.
- 1888: Renamed Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd.
- 1892: The company’s first department-style store opened in Nottingham on Pelham Street, dispensing medicines and selling perfumes, stationery and some fancy goods.
- 1915: In response to Britain losing its supply of chemicals from Germany during World War I, Boots began to manufacture medicines and other needed supplies which were supplied to field hospitals.
- 1920: Boots Pure Drug Company is sold to United Drug Company of America. In the years that followed it registered pharmaceutical patents, sold specialized medical equipment and expanded its manufacturing operations.
- 1933: The company is back under British ownership.
- 1935: The Number Seven line is introduced with 11 products, providing affordable beauty. Specialist consultants were hired, and some stores opened Number Seven Beauty Salons.
- 1939: Soltan suncare line launches.
- 1940: Boots mass manufactures penicillin.
- 1968: Launches 17 lines, catering to youth.
- 1969: Launched ibuprofen (as Brufen).
- 1983: Optical in-store practices added.
- 1990: Boots Contract Manufacturing and Boots International established.
- 1995: Botanics skincare line launched.
- 1996: Boots Pharmaceuticals sold to BASF chemicals company.
- 1997: Boots Advantage card launched
- 2006: Boots International Healthcare sold to Reckitt Benckiser. Alliance Boots formed when Boots Group merged with Alliance Unichem.
- 2007: Alliance Boots is privatized.
- 2010: Boots brands are sold directly to third-party retailers in the U.S. and other countries. Boots Pharmaceuticals is launched.
- 2012: Walgreens acquires a 45% stake in Alliance Boots.
- 2014: Walgreens purchases the remaining 55%, forming a new holding company, Walgreens Boots Alliance, with Walgreens and Boots becoming subsidiaries.
In 2024, the celebrate its 175th anniversary, Boots has several activities planned, including special offers for its loyalty card holders, gallery exhibits, a retrospective on 175 years of beauty trends, and a focus on its role in providing healthcare and advancing sun safety.
![boots plasters](https://assets1.p2pi.com/s3fs-public/styles/hero/s3/2023-10/bootsplasters.png)
The company’s business approach encompasses an omnichannel strategy encompassing an online marketplace and shoppable app, a strong focus on private labels (nearly one in two consumer healthcare products sold at Boots are owned brand) as well as up-and-coming and perennial favorite brands, and a loyalty program that serves millions.
The company benefits from having an in-house product research and development team, allowing it to cultivate its own brands, including No7, Liz Earle and Boots Pharmaceuticals. It also sells some of its brands via third-party retailers and invites suppliers and brands to apply for space in its marketplace. The retailer also sources exclusive “only at Boots” items.
2023 Holidays
For the 2023 holiday season, Boots released a "Thank you, Santa" campaign driving home the message that people can find a gift for everyone on their list, whether on a budget or in full splurge mode. A spot directed by Sam Brown kicks off the campaign, followed by seven weeks of activity across TV, radio, film, OOH, print, social, digital, in-store and online.
Boots also has a shoppable gift guide on its website, and customers can snap a photo of a gift they'd like to buy and use a QR code to track down the item.
Boots also has selected The Hygiene Bank as its seasonal charity partner. Boots is pledging to double the amount of hygiene products that customers donate at drop-off points.
The charity campaign also features a media partnership with "We are 8," a sustainable media platform that lets customers earn rewards by watching videos, with a portion of the media spend set aside for The Hygiene Bank.
Merchandising
![soap and glory advent calendar](https://assets1.p2pi.com/s3fs-public/styles/hero/s3/2023-10/soapandglory.png)
Merchandising Strategy
Boots UK offers a broad range of merchandise, including health and pharmacy, beauty and skincare, fragrance, baby and children’s, sun protection and travel essentials, food and drink, health and wellness, toiletries and gifts. Categories and departments are similar both in-store and online. The retailer also stocks seasonal products, including Christmas items, giftables and advent calendars.
Boots is home to a mix of brands, including prestige and higher-end beauty and skincare as well as more affordable lines and its private labels.
It continually adds beauty and skincare lines and products, including more than 1,600 new beauty lines from more than 100 brands within the first half of 2023. That October it launched a new premium and professional haircare category — with a dedicated page to the category — adding approximately 400 new hair products online and adding to store shelves in the weeks that follow.
Store Formats/Growth
![Boots Beauty Halls](https://assets1.p2pi.com/s3fs-public/styles/hero/s3/2023-10/boots-new-beauty-hall-in-grantham-is-a-smaller-version-of-reinvented-beauty-halls-at-boots-flagship-stores.jpg)
Store Formats/Growth
Boots has 2,232 stores in the U.K. All stores fit into what it calls its multi-format strategy. Those formats are:
- Flagship stores: These are Boots' largest stores, offering healthcare products and services including pharmacy, Boots Opticians practices and Boots Hearingcare departments. The flagships also have the largest range of premium beauty and exclusive brands. Ninety of these stores are hybrid formats that also fulfill boots.com orders.
- Local pharmacy: Largely healthcare-focused.
- Health and beauty: These dot many areas, from the edge of town to main street, and offer pharmacy services and shopping destinations.
- Travel and airport: These shops have more curated selections to meet the needs of travelers.
In recent years, Boots has been updating its in-store beauty halls that offer consultation services (in 170 locations across the U.K. and Ireland).
Boots Beauty Concept Store
In December 2023, it opened its first beauty-only store inside Battersea Power Station. The location is 11,200 square feet, and includes more than 250 cosmetics, skincare, fragrance and haircare brands, as well as selections from diverse and female-owned brands.
The store includes:
- A supersized beauty studio with established global brands such as Fenty Beauty and NARS as well as viral brands such as e.l.f. and Sculpted by Aimee. Beauty brands also teach masterclasses, and the Beauty Bar offers free express services.
- New brands such as R.E.M. Beauty, Kerastase, Shu Uemura and Bubble becoming available at the new store as well as Boots.com.
- Trained beauty advisors, skin-specializing pharmacists and dermatologists offering advice, consultations and services.
- A Hair Bar, with professional scalp analysis and support for damaged and/or thinning hair, as well as weekly hair demonstrations and styling services from brands such as Dyson and Drybar. The department also features a blend of professional, premium and independent hair brands.
- A Fragrance Discovery Bar, with refill station, interactive product displays and a digital fragrance finder.
- A beauty product recycling station.
Live True London x Boots
In October 2023, Boots announced it was partnering with independent hairdressers Live True London to launch a new salon-led retail space in its Vauxhall location in London. The Live True London x Boots space blends a shopping area that emphasizes Boots' haircare lines while offering a full range of salon services.
Boots is also testing a new role in its stores, that of haircare specialist, who will receive training to offer advice and product suggestions to customers.
E-Commerce
E-Commerce
Boots.com is the U.K.’s most visited health and beauty website, and provides a robust e-commerce platform for shopping the website and app. The app has more than 6.2 million active users.
In spring 2023, Boots launched a refreshed and expanded online marketplace powered by Mirakl’s SaaS platform. The launch gives customers access to more brands and products, and third-party suppliers have more opportunities to reach customers as they’re integrated into the e-marketplace.
![boots uber eats](https://assets1.p2pi.com/s3fs-public/styles/hero/s3/2023-10/bootsubereats.png)
Other features of Boots.com and the retailer's mobile app include the option to select multiple fulfillment options (in-store or delivery, etc.) in a single transaction and redeem loyalty program points at checkout.
Approximately 1,600 stores offer next-day click-and-collect pickup. Shoppers generally also can place an order online, in-store or via the app before 8 p.m. and pick it up on a day of their choosing at select stores. The service is free with a minimum spend of 15 pounds; otherwise the cost is 1.50 pounds. Standard delivery on most items is free with a minimum 25 pound spend, or 3.75 pounds otherwise.
Boots has partnerships with Deliveroo across 124 stores and with UberEats, offering fulfillment services from 44 stores.
Retail Media
![Boots Media Group](https://assets1.p2pi.com/s3fs-public/styles/hero/s3/2023-10/bootsmediagroup.png)
Retail Media
Taking some learnings from the launch of Walgreens Advertising Group, Boots launched its own in-house marketing agency, Boots Media Group, in 2021, in partnership with SMG’s (Shopper Media Group) retail media agency, Threefold.
BMG offers a marriage of data, creative and measurement to help brands develop connected end-to-end digital and in-store marketing campaigns. Customer data culled from Advantage Card loyalty program provides a built-in audience and a more targeted reach through personalized offers. The agency also offers AI-based optimization (both on and off Boots-owned platforms), campaign measurement and ROI reporting.
Boots has experienced strong growth from on-site sponsored search and sponsored products. It is working on delivering programmatic digital radio and adding more digital screens in stores.
Private Label
![Boots lippie](https://assets1.p2pi.com/s3fs-public/styles/hero/s3/2023-10/screenshot_2023-10-05_at_7.16.45_pm.png)
Private Labels
Boots has thousands of private label SKUs that encompass health, beauty, suncare, baby, wellness and more.
- Boots: Thousands of SKUs encompassing health, beauty, vitamin and medical categories. Boots also has eponymous accessories, eyewear, hosiery, pharmaceuticals and travel lines.
- Also included is the Boots Everyday label, which was launched in 2022 to help customers find essential products at lower prices, ranging from 50p to £2.50. The range includes 120 lines across toiletries, skincare, dental, haircare, vitamins and period products.
- No7: Cosmetics and skincare.
- Botanics: Beauty and skincare with a natural focus.
- Soap & Glory: Bath and body, skincare, cosmetics.
- YourGoodSkin: Skincare products created by women and dermatologists.
- Liz Earle Beauty Co.: Cleansers, skincare, bodycare, haircare, men’s grooming with a focus on natural and cruelty-free ingredients.
- Sleek MakeUP: Cosmetics.
- Soltan: Sun protection for face, body, sensitive skin and more, plus insect repellent lotions.
- Champneys: Seasonal, wellness, bath and body, candles and gifts.
Loyalty Programs
![boots card](https://assets1.p2pi.com/s3fs-public/styles/hero/s3/2023-10/bootscard.png)
Loyalty Programs
The retailer offers a Boots Advantage Card loyalty program, where members can earn points on purchases to be redeemed later, including double points during one’s birthday month. The program has 13 million active members. Members can link the Boots app to their rewards account.
Additional savings options are available for students, customers over age 60, parents and optical customers.
Boots continues to enhance the program. Since recently members receive a 10% discount on Boots’ own-brand range.
Boots also offers a Price Advantage option, where more than 1,000 well-known brands are discounted. Price Advantage deals have included La Roche-Posay, Sure, No. 7, Soltan, Boots, and other discounted items. Due to rising cost-of-living the retailer has instituted price locks on hundreds of essential SKUs and added more savings opportunities and special promotions.
For Boots' 175th anniversary in 2024, the retailer has special offers on tap for its Advantage Card members.