There are three undeniable changes that have/will impact the retail health marketplace:
- Buyer behavior shifts, due to the rise of internet and home delivery, that forces retailers to pivot their strategies and offer value added service in stores to get customers to come in and stay longer.
- A healthcare revolution that moved day-to-day primary care out of the traditional doctor’s office and into clinic settings while offering patients on-demand and faster solutions to common concerns.
- The global pandemic of COVID-19 that continues to impact decisions for individuals about their risks in out-of-home exposure and tangentially, when they do go outside, how to improve productivity.
This tidal wave of changes offers a unique opportunity for retailers with health offerings in-store to succeed. Executives who evaluate this consumer behavior for their retail health clinics can use the changes above to transform consumers into repeat customers and increase customer loyalty by pathing them into your Care+Commerce Ecosystem.
Understanding the Care+Commerce Ecosystem
The Care+Commerce Ecosystem resembles other buying ecosystems and consists of three related points of entry:
- Retail
- Point of Care
- Pharmacy
Savvy retail health clinics use this ecosystem to increase customer loyalty by creating a behavioral loop where each step in the ecosystem leads to another. Consumers transform into loyal and engaged customers from any of these three starting points.
Let’s take a look at how this ecosystem behaves at each point of entry.
Starting Point: Retail
Many retail health clinics want to acquire new customers from the store’s pool of retail shoppers. Currently a customer enters the retail location, and discovers the retail health clinic by chance. Leading retailers do not leave this experience up to chance. Instead, they use digital signage in their stores to waypath their customers into the Care+Commerce Ecosystem. Digital signage moves customers through the store through flexible and impactful methods.
For example, a customer enters your store intending to purchase a greeting card. While there, they see a screen letting them know they can earn bonuses through your store’s app when they refill a prescription. This messaging both reminds customers they need to refill a prescription and gives them an extra incentive to download the app. They’re already in-store for one purchase. You lower the barrier to switch their prescription to your retail health clinic’s pharmacy by offering specific messages with an easy to use QR code.
While at the pharmacy, this same customer sees a screen highlighting the retail health clinic’s physical therapy offering. Again, using a custom QR code that promotes immediate action, the customer schedules an appointment on the spot.
Targeted messaging on specific screens turns a retail customer into a repeat customer at your retail health clinic. Not only that, but now the customer has downloaded your app, opening another avenue of marketing.
The next time this customer arrives at your store, they will enter the Care+Commerce Ecosystem at the point of care and move through the ecosystem to the pharmacy and, with the right digital signage, make additional purchases on their way out. Moving customers through the Care+Commerce Ecosystem is a seamless method of increasing customer loyalty and turning one-time shoppers into repeat customers.
Starting Point: Point of Care
Some customers begin their journey through the Care+Commerce Ecosystem at the point of care stage. These customers use retail health clinics to address their care needs, from optometry to annual physicals. A strong digital signage strategy moves these customers through your venue after their appointment.
For example, a retail health clinic offers optometry services. The appointment with your retail health clinic’s ophthalmologist offers a large convenience to consumers: after the customer’s appointment, they shop while waiting for their prescriptions at your pharmacy.
Use digital signage to drive customers to sales, promotions and other special offers. Many customers will choose to wait for their prescriptions, giving you access to additional mindshare while they stay in your store.
When the customer purchases their food plus prescription at the pharmacy, a final screen reminds them to schedule a followup appointment. This followup reminder is the critical point in this iteration of the Care+Commerce Ecosystem. A followup appointment guarantees a repeat customer for you. This continuous activity loop allows you to change customer behavior, build trust with the customer and ultimately increase customer loyalty at your retail health clinic and larger retail location.
Starting Point: Pharmacy
The final point of entry into the Care+Commerce Ecosystem is a pharmacy lead. For many retail locations with retail health clinics, these leads will be the most common as consumers consolidate shopping behaviors and minimize time spent in-venue.
A study from the University of Pennsylvania proved out the common belief that most in-store purchases are impulse purchases. In fact, according to the study, 74% of all purchase decisions in mass merchandisers are impulse purchases. So, the longer a customer stays in store the more opportunities to purchase from you; this is not a new concept. What might be new is thinking about how to keep them longer when a customer enters your retail health clinic to pick up a prescription from the pharmacy.
For example, many customers at a pharmacy purchase maintenance medication, so be strategic with your offers. Guide customers to items that meet their needs, like tissues for those with colds, aspirin for those with high blood pressure or sterile wipes and cotton balls for diabetics or those who require regular injections.
While they wait for their prescription, use screens to promote your retail health clinic’s availability. Many retail health clinics offer appointments outside of regular business hours, allowing customers greater freedom to receive flu shots, annual physicals and preventive care consultations. Many customers don’t engage with these offerings because they are unaware of them.
These combined messages help change consumer behavior and transform one-time buyers into repeat customers.
The Care+Commerce Ecosystem offers retailers with retail health clinics powerful new options to engage customers within their business. If you’re ready to leverage digital signage to transform customer behavior and increase customer loyalty, UPshow is ready to help.
