The latest update to Walgreens’ iOS application uses store-specific offers to harness customer loyalty and brings added value through a more customized experience.

The new Weekly Ad feature introduced allows users to create their own flagship location from which they will be able to receive more relevant offers. Walgreens joins a growing list of retailers who are betting on in-store modes to engage with consumers while shopping.

“Walgreens in-store mode provides customers with convenient access to their clipped coupons and in-store map,” said Mai Lee Ua, senior manager of public relations at Walgreens, Deerfield.

“There’s a continuous effort to modify or enhance our digital offerings to provide a relevant and seamless experience for our shoppers whenever and wherever they choose to engage with Walgreens,” she said.

Omnichannel strategy
The app touts multiple ways shoppers can interact and connect.

Walgreens’ newest update leverages store-specific deals to let consumers find contextually-deals and offers.

Mobile coupons were rolled out in the Walgreens app in February, and the new integration cuts down on the number of steps that consumers need to take to find and redeem coupons (see story).

Customers can earn rewards in-store, online, or through their mobile devices. The app has the common functionality of locating a store, refilling prescriptions and searching for promotions.

Aside from simply refilling a prescription, customers can scan their medication label to refill, transfer pharmacies, or create a pill reminder.

App users may also uniquely create custom photo cards, collage prints, posters and canvases that can be honored and printed at their favorite location.

Innovative offerings
Mobile binds Web and in-store consumer behavior, allowing a brand or retailer to capitalize on both point of conversion and adding value to the bricks-and-mortar experience.

Walgreens continues in its mobile efforts to coalesce consumer interaction with purchases by incentivizing in-store mobile usage where consumers feel benefited.

In 2013, Walgreens partnered with Sparkfly and L’Oreal to bring real time discounts through a women’s beauty app called Pretty in my Pocket (see story).

The campaign sought to solve a fundamental mobile advertising qualm: Connecting mobile offers to real-world purchases.

Customers could scan or search for products and then receive reviews, instructional videos for product use, coupons and other offers redeemable at any Walgreens location throughout New York’s Manhattan borough.

In stock
The Walgreens app is designed to avoid customer frustration from out-of-stock merchandise and inability to find a product.

Physically visiting a store and chancing their luck to find a specific item, at a specific price, in a specific location when the same items can easily buy online, customers need fast guidance when it comes to availability. Walgreens expedites a shopper’s trip by providing in and out of stock information.

“The app is designed to give users exactly what they needs when they are in Walgreens,” Ms. Lee Ua said. “The content is specific to the store and the user can still access the full functionality of the app.”

“Walgreens aims to provide the best end-to-end customer experience, whether shoppers are engaging with digitally or in-store,” she said.

Final Take:
Michelle is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York