DEERFIELD, Ill. — In the convenience channel, greeting cards and gift cards are the primary purchases for everyday gifting occasions such as birthdays, thank you or sympathy presents, says Heather Hughes, Walgreens’ group vice president and general merchandise manager for seasonal, GM and photo.

Heather Hughes

To personalize these purchases, Walgreens has expanded the number of thoughtful items at an affordable price point to accompany cards and gift cards such as monogrammed mugs, toys and picture frames. “These items have been doing extremely well, and our customers now expect this in our stores,” says Hughes.

The shelter-in-place orders across the U.S. during the pandemic, as well as limitations on attendance at gatherings, have resulted in delayed shopping patterns, with customers waiting until much closer to the season or holidays to make purchases. For Easter and Mother’s Day, Walgreens was able to serve as a convenient location for last-minute gifts due to its stores being within five minutes of more than 75% of the population.

For graduation season, Walgreens made several adjustments in the photo department, such as adding templates to support virtual parties, as well as expanding the availability of graduation templates to the end of summer to support the extension of the graduation party season. Also, since many traditional summer activity sites such as public pools and camps will potentially be closed or limited this summer, the chain has added additional at-home play merchandise at an affordable price point such as sprinklers, water blasters and sidewalk chalk, which Hughes notes have seen high demand.

While it is too soon to know for certain, she believes new categories will emerge from habits created by the pandemic, like groups of products that allow for touchless access to key pads and door handles. “I also think we will continue to see strong interest in prevention and protection products like hand sanitizer, dietary supplements and masks,” she adds. “More importantly, I think we will see innovations to support the new customer mindset and business model evolution to accommodate new shopping behaviors such as the expansion of products available at Walgreens drive-through or curbside pickup.”

In the photo arena, Walgreens is the No. 1 retailer, she notes, saying the days of printing photos and putting them into an album may be long past, but there is still growth in the category. “The key is to give our customers new ways to transpose the memories stored on their digital devices into a creative product and to do so seamlessly whether in-store, online or through our mobile app.”

Looking back on the keys to her success, Hughes says she learned a lot about leadership from her volleyball coach at Butler University, Sharon Dingman. “The skills I learned on the court to lead and motivate my team spilled over into the corporate world. I also learned a lot from our former president, Richard Ashworth. I had the pleasure of working with him for more than 20 years and always admired his leadership style. He always made time to pull me aside and offer his guidance.”

These days she is “extremely passionate about mentoring” and has an open door policy –— she will mentor “anyone who asks, whether it is just for a one-time conversation or working with someone throughout their career.”