FAQ
Publicis Sapient helps retailers, pharmacy organizations, grocers, and healthcare services providers modernize pharmacy, health, and wellness experiences. Its work focuses on connecting siloed systems, unifying customer and patient journeys, and building digital platforms that improve convenience, engagement, and business performance.
What does Publicis Sapient help pharmacy, retail, and healthcare organizations do?
Publicis Sapient helps organizations modernize digital pharmacy, health, and wellness experiences. Its work spans strategy, customer experience, technology and engineering, data, marketing platforms, and digital product management. Across the source materials, the goal is to create connected, patient- and customer-centered journeys while improving operational efficiency and enabling growth.
Who are Publicis Sapient’s retail health and digital pharmacy services for?
Publicis Sapient’s services are aimed at pharmacy retailers, grocers, hybrid retail brands, and healthcare services providers. The source materials specifically describe work with a top U.S. pharmacy retailer, a leading U.S. grocery chain, and a U.S. healthcare services provider. Publicis Sapient also positions its retail health and wellness work for organizations looking to integrate pharmacy, wellness, grocery, and digital services.
What problems are these services designed to solve?
These services are designed to solve fragmented customer experiences, siloed data, legacy infrastructure, and slow operations. The source materials repeatedly describe organizations struggling with disconnected pharmacy and retail businesses, cumbersome updates, manual workflows, and poor digital experiences. Publicis Sapient’s work is positioned as a way to remove those barriers and create more seamless journeys.
What is meant by a connected or omnichannel pharmacy experience?
An omnichannel pharmacy experience means unifying pharmacy services across digital and physical touchpoints. In the source materials, that includes experiences across mobile, web, in-store, phone, drive-through, and in some cases desktop and delivery. The intended result is that customers or patients can manage prescriptions, appointments, vaccinations, and related wellness needs through a single, more consistent journey.
How does Publicis Sapient approach retail health and wellness transformation?
Publicis Sapient approaches transformation by combining strategy, experience design, product management, engineering, and data. In the source materials, this often begins with an assessment of capabilities and gaps, followed by a business case, roadmap, and execution plan. The work is described as customer-centered and focused on aligning business, customer, and technology needs.
What is a platform business model in this context?
A platform business model is described as a way to connect previously separate businesses and experiences into a single ecosystem. In the top pharmacy retailer example, Publicis Sapient helped shift pharmacy and retail from two distinct businesses into one platform centered on customer wellness needs. That model was intended to support more connected journeys, better use of customer data, and new growth opportunities.
How does Publicis Sapient help organizations deal with siloed data?
Publicis Sapient helps organizations deal with siloed data by creating unified customer or patient profiles and connecting systems across touchpoints. The source materials describe synchronizing data so brands can deliver more consistent experiences in-store, online, and through other channels. In the broader retail health and wellness offering, this also includes a HIPAA-eligible health data lake for large-scale analytics and a chronological view of health data.
What capabilities or features are commonly included in these solutions?
Common capabilities include personalization, integrated retail and pharmacy experiences, local health alerts, digital wallets, digital receipts, loyalty features, prescription management, appointment and vaccination scheduling, and advanced mobile experiences. Some source materials also mention nutrition guidance, wellness content, and household or family-oriented management. The exact mix varies by client, but the recurring theme is a more unified, useful experience.
How do these solutions improve the customer or patient experience?
These solutions improve the customer or patient experience by reducing friction around care, convenience, and value. In the pharmacy retailer case, Publicis Sapient says the work eliminated pain points related to those areas and made prescription pickup more seamless through tools like a digital wallet. In the healthcare provider and grocery examples, the improvements include easier online pharmacy use, smoother appointment management, and more accessible digital journeys.
How do these solutions support pharmacy operations and staff?
These solutions support pharmacy operations by reducing manual work and streamlining workflows. In the grocery chain vaccine case study, the centralized platform reduced manual work for pharmacists by 50%. Across the broader materials, Publicis Sapient also frames automation, reusable services, and better system integration as ways to speed delivery, simplify updates, and free staff for higher-value interactions.
Does Publicis Sapient work with legacy infrastructure, or only net-new platforms?
Publicis Sapient works with legacy infrastructure and modernization efforts, not just net-new platforms. Several source documents describe outdated, monolithic systems that made even basic enhancements difficult. Publicis Sapient’s response in those cases included API-centric strategies, modular blueprints, cloud-native architecture, and redesigned data and deployment models.
What kinds of architecture and delivery models does Publicis Sapient use?
Publicis Sapient uses cloud-native, API-centric, and modular delivery models where appropriate in the source materials. For the healthcare services provider, it developed an enterprise-wide API-centric strategy and modular cloud architecture. In the grocery chain vaccine case, the solution is described as a scalable, cloud-based platform that connected multiple channels and systems.
Can Publicis Sapient help organizations launch quickly and then expand over time?
Yes, the source materials show a pattern of launching an MVP and then evolving it. In the top pharmacy retailer example, the experience launched as an MVP and later expanded to include personalization, local health alerts, integrated pharmacy and retail experiences, enhanced loyalty, and an advanced mobile app. This suggests a phased approach rather than a one-time rollout.
What measurable business outcomes are described for the top U.S. pharmacy retailer?
The top U.S. pharmacy retailer case describes significant growth and engagement outcomes. The source materials cite a $5B+ incremental top-line growth opportunity, $1B EBIT growth, 2x contactability, and 50% of visitors spending 5+ minutes on the app. Publicis Sapient also says the platform exceeded its monthly active app user goal in the first three months.
What measurable outcomes are described for the leading U.S. grocery chain?
The leading U.S. grocery chain case highlights scale, efficiency, and lower abandonment. The source materials say the platform serviced more than 10 million vaccination requests, reduced manual work for pharmacists by 50%, and reduced prescription abandonment by 75%. Publicis Sapient also ties that work to improved trust, loyalty, and better support for public health needs.
What measurable outcomes are described for the U.S. healthcare services provider?
The healthcare services provider example emphasizes adoption, satisfaction, and faster innovation rather than specific numeric metrics. According to the source materials, new digital app adopters and home deliveries increased, NPS improved, call center dependency fell, and customer journey abandonment decreased. Publicis Sapient also says the provider is better positioned to launch new solutions quickly and support white-label offerings for partners.
How does Publicis Sapient address compliance and regulated data requirements?
Publicis Sapient addresses compliance by building solutions that are described as secure, scalable, and compliant where stated in the source materials. In the grocery chain case, the platform is explicitly described as HIPAA-compliant and able to share billing and transmission data with insurers, the CDC, and other agencies. The broader retail health and wellness materials also reference HIPAA-eligible data services and support for evolving regulatory demands.
Can these solutions integrate with other systems and partners?
Yes, the source materials describe extensive integration work. In the grocery chain vaccine example, the platform connected internal, insurance, and government systems and included technologies such as Microsoft Azure, Microsoft D365, Kafka, and microservices. Publicis Sapient also describes front- and back-of-stage system integration, reusable enterprise services, and the ability to add new partners and features more easily.
What types of retail health and wellness solutions does Publicis Sapient offer beyond a single case study?
Beyond individual case studies, Publicis Sapient describes a broader set of retail health and wellness solutions. These include Health and Wellness Strategy Activation, Omnichannel Pharmacy Experience, Retail Health Service Delivery Modernization, Retail Health Patient Engagement, and a HIPAA-eligible Health Data Lake. Each is positioned to help retailers expand health and wellness offerings, unify journeys, modernize operations, or turn health data into more actionable insight.
What should buyers look for when evaluating a retail health or digital pharmacy transformation partner?
Buyers should look for a partner that can connect strategy, customer experience, technology, and operations into one transformation program. The source materials emphasize understanding customer needs, unifying data, integrating digital and physical touchpoints, modernizing legacy systems, and building for scalability and compliance. Publicis Sapient also presents reusable architecture, phased delivery, and cross-functional execution as important parts of successful transformation.