WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy has rolled out an updated mobile application that enables shoppers to digitally store their ExtraCare loyalty card in a smartphone.
The drug store chain said Tuesday that the upgraded mobile app eliminates the need for customers to carry their ExtraCare card when shopping.
To load their ExtraCare card onto a smartphone, members of the rewards program scan the barcode on the back of the card or type in their account number manually. After the barcode is captured, their smartphones will work just like an ExtraCare card at checkout.
The updated CVS mobile app also sports a redesigned look and feel, the retailer added. Its interface now has quick thumb links to popular features such as the prescription refill scanner, CVS/pharmacy store and MinuteClinic locators, mobile weekly circular with local deals and promotions, ExtraCare account access and m-commerce shopping.
"During the past few months, we’ve significantly expanded the mobile options available to our digitally minded customers with the goal of creating the most personalized and accessible shopping experience," Rob Price, senior vice president of marketing and chief marketing officer at CVS/pharmacy, said in a statement. "ExtraCare members can use the new CVS mobile app to easily store their ExtraCare cards and can also have full access to their ExtraCare accounts right from their smartphones, making it even easier to view their personalized offers and ExtraBucks Rewards."
The mobile app can be downloaded free at cvs.com/onthego, at the Apple App Store or at Google Play.
Judy Strauss Sansone, senior vice president of merchandising for CVS/pharmacy, recently told Chain Drug Review in an interview that more digital capabilities for ExtraCare are upcoming.
“We’ll be further enhancing Send to Card over the next few months," she said, referring to the digital option launched last August that allows ExtraCare members to send certain e-mail offers directly to their card so they don’t have to carry paper rewards. In January, CVS expanded Send to Card by enabling ExtraCare cardholders to send quarterly ExtraBucks rewards right to their cards.
And besides targeted advertising to ExtraCare members based on their spending history, personalized offers will be sent via e-mail as well as be accessible on the CVS website.
Also planned are Endless Aisle, in which products not available in CVS stores will be available via the website; a mobile wallet; real-time inventory checking at all CVS stores; a drug interaction checker; and a personalized circular.
"We’re using digital to extend and enhance the in-store experience and the online and mobile experience for our customers," Sansone said.
And CVS has good reason to make ExtraCare — the largest loyalty program in retail, with 92 million active cardholders who have used it in the past 12 months — the crux of its digital strategy. As of last December, 67% of all transactions and 82% of front-end sales were being made through the ExtraCare card. In addition, members buy 4.4 items per shopping trip versus 2.4 items for nonmembers.
