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DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens announced Monday that it will hold a Supplier Diversity Summit during the ECRM Supplier Diversity Week, a virtual showcase for diverse businesses and entrepreneurs to share their retail offerings. The virtual event, taking place April 5-8, provides diverse vendors the opportunity to connect with the Walgreens merchandising team, share their products, and receive feedback with the ultimate goal of being stocked on Walgreens shelves in their local areas.
During the virtual summit, Walgreens will work to increase sourcing from suppliers that are at least 51 percent owned, operated, and managed by individuals who are disadvantaged, disabled, military veterans, LGBTQ+, minorities, and/or women.
“As a leading partner in reimagining local healthcare and wellbeing for all, ensuring that we create equitable opportunities for diverse suppliers to drive economic impact in the communities we serve is imperative,” said Carlos W. Cubia, senior vice president and global chief diversity officer at WBA. “This year’s summit will connect us with diverse suppliers that will ensure we remain relevant to our customers and communities with products that meet their unique needs. We look forward to a successful event.”
The summit will focus on products across grocery and household, beauty and personal care, health and wellness, and general merchandise, among other categories. Vendors can find additional information about the virtual event and apply to join here.
The Supplier Diversity Summit aims to bring diverse businesses from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, to evaluate opportunities to build more locally relevant and diverse product offerings for Walgreens customers and deeper collaboration with new suppliers for the future.
All sourcing and product submissions will be made through RangeMe, the industry-standard online product discovery and sourcing platform. ECRM will qualify suppliers, create curated meeting schedules, and facilitate face-to-face virtual meetings with Walgreens buyers so that suppliers can introduce new and innovative products into the marketplace. All meetings will be conducted through ECRM’s industry leading virtual meeting platform, ECRM Connect, plus, ECRM’s dedicated support team will help ensure that buyer and seller connections are executed seamlessly.
