Meijer Offers Free Wi-Fi In Stores To Encourage App, Digital Coupon Usage
By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA
Company currently has more than 2 million enrolled in mPerks digital coupon program
Meijer announced it will be rolling out free Wi-Fi in all of its stores in order to give customers easier access to its mPerks digital coupon program and mobile app. According to Michael Ross, VP of customer marketing and emerging technology, “Our customers are relying on digital tools more than ever as they shop, which why we’re constantly providing them with resources to enhance their shopping experience. Now, with free Wi-Fi in our stores, we’re offering an additional cost savings because our customers no longer have to use their data plans while shopping.”
The company has seen great success from its mPerks digital coupon program, which, as of last month, has more than 2 million subscribers on record. In December alone, the program added 129,000 new members and saw roughly 31 million digital coupons, which saved Meijer customers $12.6 million. Meijer says that the popularity of the program is based primarily on some of the enhancements it’s made over the past year, including the launch of a new mPerks website and the program’s personalization initiatives. In early Fall 2013, the company opened up the program to include deals on baby goods (Baby Rewards) and introduced Pharmacy Rewards, which allowed customers to earn rewards for an area of the store of their choice when they filled prescriptions through Meijer.
An Interesting Approach To Loyalty
Beyond these enhancements, Ross tells Mobile Commerce Daily, “We believe mPerks has been successful for two main reasons: we’ve made it easy for customers to enroll and, once they become enrolled, they discover valuable savings too. Not only does mPerks provide digital coupons for both national and Meijer-branded products, but it also provides access to special savings offers, which make our low prices even lower.”
This new Wi-Fi investment will also, hopefully, keep enrolling customers in the store’s mobile app, which allows customers to find and clip mPerks digital coupons; create and check off items on a shopping list; browse and save items to shopping lists; earn purchase savings through the store’s various rewards programs; receive maps to stores; and search/find products on a store map. Not to mention, consumers today highly value retailers that provide free Wi-Fi. According to the Acquity Group study, “Desktop vs. Smartphone: Technology’s Impact On Omni-Channel Behavior,” 50 percent of smartphone owners say they’d feel more confident making a major purchase if they had the opportunity to research in-store. The study also found that free Wi-Fi would encourage customers to spend longer in stores and browse for more items, which could ultimately boost sales.
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