While I Was Waiting for My CVS Receipt to Print, I Wrote This.
The other day I stopped into CVS to buy a pack of gum. I brought it to the self-checkout, rung it up, and then waited for the dreaded printing of my receipt-coupon book. The time it took for my 12-foot long receipt to print was longer than it took for me to buy the single pack of gum that was on it. Cashiers now automatically begin rolling up the receipt as it is being dispensed, anticipating having to handle a strip of paper longer than their bodies. This has become a cultural joke to which we can all relate. There are memes and bits on late night shows poking fun at the absurdity of this phenomenon (see below).
To state the obvious, this cannot be efficient. It’s not that the content of these coupons isn’t useful, but let’s be real — I’m not going to carry around my CVS receipt coupon file in case I might potentially pop in to buy a pack of gum one day. CVS could be the best utilizer of data analytics on consumer shopping habits in the world, but if this is their system of putting that information to use, then it becomes a waste of resources — not to mention, a major unnecessary detriment to the environment.
There are ample solutions that CVS could employ to meet their customers’ demand for convenience. First, CVS currently has two apps — one for prescription management, and another for shopping, photo, and MinuteClinic services. People who use the prescription management app likely visit CVS semi-regularly to fill their prescriptions, and currently have no reason to download the second app. By integrating coupons and other services together with their pharmacy services into a single app, pharmacy customers who already use a CVS app may decide to make additional purchases while in the store based on having their available coupons easily accessible.
For those customers who do not have the app, which I would imagine is a substantial portion considering that I’ve never met someone who has the CVS app downloaded on their phone, the company could offer an incentive to download it, such as bonus “Extrabucks” or a percent off their purchase. This could offer benefits to shoppers as well as to the company, as it would allow CVS to collect more data on customer shopping habits that would allow them to optimize their stores and selling techniques. For example, the app could prompt the user to open the app when they walk into a CVS location and surface the active coupons in their account. This might drive shoppers to purchase additional items that they hadn’t planned to buy upon entering the store.
Equally as important, if a user has the app open while shopping, CVS could collect data on individual as well as aggregate shopping patterns. For example, they could measure how much time shoppers spend in each aisle, the paths that shoppers take through the store, whether certain demographics spend more time in certain areas, etc. This data could allow CVS to plan the layout of their stores in order to optimize customer experiences and to increase total purchases. Many grocery chains have used this type of data to uncover the insight that by placing items that shoppers specifically visit the store to buy in the back, they will be forced to walk by other impulse items during their visit. On average, this increases the overall size of customers’ purchases.
On an individual level, CVS would be able to more closely track specific shoppers’ habits and better optimize which coupons they award them. For example, if a customer buys tampons on a given date, it would be a good idea to offer a coupon for tampons roughly one month later. As Jimmy Kimmel points out in his bit, we usually make a purchase and then immediately receive coupons for similar items. This does not make intuitive sense considering that now that we have purchased that item, the need for similar items should no longer exist. By better understanding individual shoppers’ needs, coupons could be awarded in the time they’re most likely to repurchase.
Another inefficiency I noticed was around the mechanics of actually using a paper coupon during the checkout process. We all know the experience of standing in line behind a “couponer” — the rare person who actually does carry around their CVS coupon file, as they flip through a year’s worth of expired coupons to find the one they’re looking for. Or just as bad, the experience of being that couponer while 10 people in line behind you are sighing and shifting impatiently as you try to work with this archaic paper system. The system could alternatively be designed to pull up all available coupons at the checkout. CVS members with rewards cards already must scan their card or enter their phone numbers to receive coupons or credit towards their account bonuses, so this would not require any extra steps to be taken by customers or cashiers. This would certainly increase check-out speed and efficiency.
While these systems offer great benefits, they may also correct some downfalls of the current system. I know that sometimes I will consider making a purchase at CVS and then realize that I have a $5 Extrabucks coupons that I forgot at home, thereby putting off making the purchase (usually remembering after my coupon has expired anyway) and introducing the possibility that I will make that purchase from a competitor instead.
By making use of an app to track customer purchases and patterns, CVS can utilize this data to drive better business decisions and improve customer experience.
