Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.

One of the top health-focused retail media networks in the U.S., competing directly with CVS Media Exchange and complementing broader retail media players like Amazon and Walmart Connect

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) is a pharmacy-led health and wellbeing company formed through the 2014 merger of Walgreens and Alliance Boots. With thousands of retail pharmacy locations across the United States and internationally, WBA built one of the most data-rich retail media networks in the industry — Walgreens Advertising Group (WAG) — launched in 2020. WAG leverages the myWalgreens loyalty program, which encompasses over 100 million members, to offer CPG brands, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and health-focused advertisers highly targeted, closed-loop advertising solutions across digital, in-store, and programmatic channels. In the AdTech and retail media ecosystem, WAG is a significant player due to its unique positioning at the intersection of health, wellness, and pharmacy data — a category with strong purchase intent signals and limited competition from general merchandise retailers. The platform enables advertisers to reach consumers based on purchase history, health conditions (in privacy-compliant ways), and loyalty behaviors, offering on-site, off-site, and in-store media inventory. This positions WBA alongside CVS Media Exchange (CMX) and Amazon Advertising as a health-focused retail media powerhouse. In August 2025, Walgreens Boots Alliance was taken private by Sycamore Partners, ending its run as a publicly traded company. Despite this ownership transition, the retail media and advertising operations continue under the WAG brand. The company's scale — thousands of U.S. pharmacy locations and a massive first-party health and wellness dataset — ensures its continued relevance as retail media networks become a dominant force in digital advertising.