Wellness is a Plus for Rite Aid

Rite Aid continues to focus most major marketing programs around its 10-month-old Wellness+ loyalty program, which has given the drugstore chain a much-needed booster shot, according to company executives.During the 2010 holiday season, Wellness+ cardholders accounted for some 70% of front-end sales, chief executive officer John Standley told analysts during a recent conference call. Club members spend 50% more than non-members at the chain, Standley noted. Some 30 million shoppers enlisted in Wellness+ in the program's first eight months.The program has dominated the chain's sign package since its launch. Banners above checkout and aisles encourage enlistment, while shelf tags identify the products that deliver "+UP" purchase rewards. In pharmacies, framed placards promise 20% off all purchases for one year to members who earn Wellness+ Gold status by accruing 1,000 points (which would reflect $1,000 in spending).The +UP rewards offers on national brands and private-label products dominate weekly circulars and the chain's website. The chain also now runs most of its major seasonal promotions through the card, advertising with extensive signage, circular features, ads in the monthly Single Check Rebates booklet and online banners. Among recent programs:A "Resolution Rewards" campaign offered $20 in +UP rewards with purchase of $100 in products from roughly 250 participating brands from manufacturers including Kimberly-Clark, Unilever, L'Oreal, General Mills, Kao Brands, Henkel Consumer Products, Nestlé, Beiersdorf Inc., Kraft Foods, Johnson & Johnson and PepsiCo. Eligible items were marked with "Buy & Save" tags at the shelf. The promotion ran Dec. 26, 2010, to Jan. 22. A corresponding sweepstakes dangled $100,000 worth of prizes including trips, consumer electronics and store gift cards; Wellness+ cardholders were entered every time they made a purchase.A nearly identical "Winter Rewards" effort running Jan. 23 to Feb. 26 also offered up to $20 in additional rewards with $100 purchases of participating items (from a somewhat different list), and provided one entry into a sweeps for every card swipe. The prize pool again consisted of $100,000 worth of trips, televisions and store cards.The latest program in Rite Aid's ongoing series of health-themed promotions pitched $20 in +UP rewards with $50 purchases of "heart healthy" products from 30 brands, including Bayer Healthcare's One-A-Day and Bayer, Pfizer Inc.'s Centrum, Procter & Gamble's Metamucil, Pharmavite's Nature Made, GlaxoSmithKline's Alli and Novartis Consumer Health's Gas-X.As is standard procedure for the health-focused campaigns, the "Heart Matters" effort included in-store distribution of a 12-page booklet of related advice and information. Produced in partnership with the American Heart Association, the booklet plugs the nonprofit's "Go Red for Women" educational program.The chain did stay closer to its past promotional tack for the holidays, when it dangled store gift certificates of $5 to $20 with total purchases of $50 to $100. Shoppers turned in receipts dated from Nov. 26 to Dec. 25 to receive the reward, which did not require Wellness+ membership. An overlay designed to drive traffic to photo departments offered $5 certificates with purchase of $25 in photo-personalized gifts such as calendars and mugs.

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