CVS is working hard to develop more strategic personalization efforts with its ExtraCare customers.  CVS recently announced that it will offer tailored versions of its weekly print circulars to ExtraCare loyalty program customers.  This initiative, myWeeklyAd, will use data gathered from CVS ExtraCare members’ previous purchases. Users of the myWeeklyAd service will also be able to build digital shopping lists tailored to the store that they most often frequent; the list will even tell them what aisle they can find certain products.  The service also gives customers customized coupons and offers.

CVS, like many retailers, relied heavily on the distribution of circulars to drive traffic and increase sales.  Today’s technologies allow CVS to reach more customers at a less expensive rate, as well as make shopping easier for customers.  CVS believes that the myWeeklyAd service will provide customers with increased convenience and create a more personalized shopping experience.

CVS has also created a “What’s Your Deal?” campaign to showcase the individualized attention that customers get.  This ad features a mother of two children receiving deals on pain relievers and cleaning wipes, while a lovelorn man might receive deals for mints, candy, and hair gel.

However, some critics argue that making personalized recommendations to consumers can sometimes be intrusive and turn some customers off.  Some Internet bloggers have also created memes imitating how some ExtraCare members receipts can extend up to five or six feet with all of the coupons.  For many customers, that is just too much.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is CVS’s myWeeklyAd?

2. Do you believe it will garner customer loyalty?

 

SOURCE:Stuart Elliott, New York Times, October 10, 2013