- August 11, 2015
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Walgreens’ Integrated Approach to Digital Marketing Keeps Profits in the Pink
Retailers seeking to improve their integrated marketing could take a page from Walgreens’ digital marketing handbook. Many feel the nation’s largest drugstore chain (8300 stores) leads its category in using emerging technologies to streamline and enhance customers’ in-store shopping experience.
In 2011, for example, the pharmacy giant launched “Refill by Scan.” The app (with the decidedly uninspired name) lets customers use smartphones to refill prescriptions in just seconds by simply scanning pill bottle barcodes.
Two years later, it introduced a prepaid private-label card that doubles as a loyalty vehicle, which lets rewards-program members to link the card to their account to earn points and discounts. In mid-2015, Walgreens also launched an Apple Watch app, one of the first nationwide pharmacies to do so.
Today, the company has 10 mobile websites and 10 mobile apps, one of which is an award-winner that perennially makes AppAnnie’s Top Ten list in the lifestyle category.
So what’s driving Walgreens’ pit-bull like push to excel at integrated digital marketing?
In a word: convenience.
In consumers’ minds, online and offline experiences have become blurred, says Adam Crouch, Walgreens’ director of digital commerce product management. “We’re [using] digital to take convenience to the next level,” he says.
Granted, Walgreens is a big company with a big technology budget. But its approach to integrating online and offline marketing may be exemplary for smallish businesses who want to do more with digital. Here’s what they do (very well):
- Incentivize customers outside the store. A robust mobile strategy and flexible technologies help drive traffic to brick-and-mortar locations, Crouch says. This includes putting product and inventory information, as well as highly customizable in-app shopping lists, right at the forefront, which helps save time before customers come to the store.
- Accelerate the shopping process. Though arguably counterintuitive, Walgreens works hard to get shoppers in and out as quickly as possible. “We’re rooted in convenience, so we want very little friction,” Crouch explains. The mobile app apparently helps smooth the way, as customers who use apps just before visiting stores spend four times more than non-app users. But also greasing the checkout wheels are an Apple Pay option and a paperless coupon feature that’s linked to customers’ reward cards.
- Continually improve their core business. Walgreens’ digital strategy is largely dedicated to streamlining pharmacy performance. For example, mobile technology enables it to electronically fill one prescription per second.
Intrigued by mobile apps and see one on your horizon? Read our post How To Make Your Own Mobile App Without Getting Techy.
