In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Kristina Stidham and Ashley Chiaradio discuss how grocery store Kroger and drug store chain Walgreens are teaming up in an effort to cut supplier costs by buying merchandise together. The two companies are calling their partnership the Retail Procurement Alliance, and plan to identify an overlap in products they both are receiving so they can place their orders together. This alliance is a smart business move for both Kroger and Walgreens, as now more than ever, traditional retailers are looking to find cost savings wherever they can as the retail landscape continues to shift. An alliance like this will allow traditional brick-and-mortar companies, such as Kroger and Walgreens, to better compete with Amazon.com, particularly as Amazon continues to push further into the health and food markets. Kroger and Walgreens hope that other companies join the Retail Procurement Alliance in the near future to leverage the economy of scale to cut costs for all parties involved. To read more about this announcement, click here.