Walgreens November Sales Decrease 3.9%

Walgreens

had November sales of $5.85 billion, a decrease of 3.9 percent from $6.09 billion for the same month in fiscal 2012. Total front-end sales decreased 0.3 percent compared with the same month in fiscal 2012, while comparable store front-end sales decreased 1.7 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores decreased 4.9 percent while basket size increased 3.2 percent. Prescriptions filled at comparable stores decreased by 2.9 percent in November and by a day-fall adjusted (DFA) 2.6 percent. This year's November had one additional Thursday and Friday and one fewer Tuesday and Wednesday compared with November 2011, negatively impacting prescriptions filled in comparable stores by 0.3 percentage point. DFA prescriptions filled at comparable stores were positively impacted by 0.2 percentage point due to the higher incidence of flu in this year's November. Click here for a graph showing the trend of comparable prescriptions filled adjusted for day fall and flu impacts. November pharmacy sales decreased 4.7 percent, while comparable store pharmacy sales decreased 8.8 percent. Calendar day shifts negatively impacted pharmacy sales in comparable stores by 0.3 percentage point. DFA comparable store pharmacy sales were negatively impacted by 9.0 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months. Pharmacy sales accounted for 63.2 percent of total sales for the month. Flu shots administered at pharmacies and clinics season-to-date were nearly 4.6 million versus approximately 5 million last year.