Walgreens geolocation beacons offer shoppers coupons and deals

The company is now pushing the use of geolocation options to customers through their mobile app.

Walgreens geolocation beacons are taking a much more central role in the latest mobile app update. The application is now pushing the use of the store’s beacons with offers of location based deals such as coupons.

The Walgreens chain has been testing the use of location based beacons in certain specific stores.

The Walgreens geolocation testing first started in February and has been focused on Duane Reade locations. The store expects that these additional mobile marketing tools will help it to record an increases in sales. At the same time, the company has expressed certain concerns about barriers to widespread adoption.

For this reason, Walgreens is being very careful and strategic about the way it is approaching location based marketing. It is seeking to ensure that its offers and features are always within its shoppers’ comfort zones.

The reason is that Walgreens geolocation uses tech that has caused consumers elsewhere to voice concerns.

Location based beacons have the potential to boost both engagement and sales while in-store at Walgreens. This mobile technology is seen as particularly promising when it comes to selling consumer packaged goods (CPGs).

Moreover, recent studies have shown that CPG shoppers are interested in receiving discount coupons. BI Intelligence reported that 61 percent of American shoppers who had never used geolocation in-store would opt-in in exchange for receiving mobile coupons and discounts from a retailer.

Furthermore, that same report said that 47 percent of US shoppers would opt in to location based messages in exchange for loyalty rewards. Since CPG purchases happen exceptionally regularly, Walgreens may be on to something in using location based tech to offer in-store savings opportunities. This has the potential to boost total sales and customer loyalty.

In fact, the same report indicated that beacons such as those used by the Walgreens geolocation program are already making a difference. It estimated that $8 billion in CPG sales was influenced by the receipt of some form of beacon-triggered message while shopping in-store. That represents 2 percent of the total CPG sales in the United States.