CVS/pharmacy's myWeekly Ad in the spotlight; what does it mean for vendors?

CVS/pharmacy’s SVP and chief marketing officer Rob Price was recently featured on Yahoo! Finance’s Big Data Download to talk about the launch of its new myWeekly Ad, which is a digital circular powered by its ExtraCare loyalty program.



This is important as it demonstrates that CVS/pharmacy continues to get major attention for the new program, and it further illustrates the push — major push — that the retailer is making on personalization.



It was indeed the topic of discussion when Drug Store News traveled to CVS Caremark’s headquarters in Woonsocket, R.I., a few months ago to talk about the company’s retail initiatives for a report in the Oct. 14 issue of the magazine. Now, CVS/pharmacy is hitting the airwaves to talk about the initiative.



The message for vendors is that there is no one size fits all any more. Vendors must recalibrate what success looks like. Personalization, segmentation and clustering means that a vendor can have better results in 1,000 stores today in the right markets with the right customers, than it could have in 7,000 stores sending out tons of product that never turns.



It also means that you have to have a firm view of who your customer is, and what the role for your product is in their lives.