Orchestrate the ultimate customer experience with a DXP

Walgreens is a global pioneer in omnichannel customer engagement. Over ten years ago, the American pharmacy introduced an app that alerts customers when their medications are running low. To place a new order, a customer simply needs to scan the product's barcode. The app notifies the customer when their order is ready for pickup at the store.

Real added value

All the customer needs to do at the store is to have the barcode in the pickup notification scanned. Within a year, the app had 1 million active users. Walgreens now also alerts them when they pass by a favorite product on sale in the store. In this way, the pharmacy brings together channels, touchpoints, and both the digital and physical worlds to offer customers true added value.

The now more than 80 million active app users still regularly receive new useful features. To provide that true added value, Walgreens continuously analyzes the combined data from hundreds of different touchpoints and channels. What behavior do we see among large customer groups, and how can we make it even easier or more enjoyable?

Inspiring digital experiences

To make this possible, the chain has been working on its ultimate Digital Experience Platform (DXP) for years. This integrates a wide range of solutions that turn Walgreens customer journeys from start to finish into pleasant and inspiring experiences. Thanks to the rapid development of composable architecture, more and more organizations can follow this example.

Composable architecture is a modular approach to application development. It allows you to create complex digital solutions using components specifically designed for that purpose. This way, you always have applications and platforms that seamlessly match your specific challenges. A composable DXP platform often includes the following components:

‘Headless’ CMS distributes universally applicable content across all touchpoints

The new generation of Content Management Systems (CMS) allows you to distribute all your digital content from one central source and in a universal format across your various touchpoints. Each individual touchpoint - whether it's your website, app, chatbot, or AR tool - can retrieve this standard content on demand and transform it into the most suitable form.

A Customer Data Platform personalizes each subsequent interaction in the customer journey 

A Customer Data Platform combines information from all desired data sources (platforms, touchpoints), possibly enriched with external data. Interaction by interaction, more and more information is gathered about how different types of customers interact with your brand. An additional Data Management Platform captures the behavior of anonymous customers.

Analysis tools transform combined data into valuable insights

Data is only valuable if you extract meaningful insights from it. This challenge becomes more complex with each new touchpoint. With the right analysis tool(s), you can answer essential questions such as: Where are valuable customer groups? How can we best engage and inspire these groups, and which channels are most suitable for this purpose?

Want to know more about composable architectures?

Read our longread:

"Composable Architecture Gives Customer-Centric Organizations Digital Resilience

(reading time: 9 minutes)

This article addresses the following questions:

• Do 'monolithic' software suites limit your flexibility and responsiveness?

• Why do more and more customer journeys end up in digital sameness?

• How to evolve from a multichannel to an omnichannel customer experience?

• What is the power of microservices, APIs, cloud-native, and headless (MACH)?

• Is a composable Digital Experience Platform the Holy Grail for marketers?

• Why doesn't every customer-centric organization immediately switch to Composable Architecture?