LloydsPharmacy is working with a marketing specialist to help drive engagement through targeted coupons to its customers in a bid to become a’ consumer destination for all over the counter products', it has said.

The point-of-sale (POS) marketing specialist — Ecrebo — has created customised coupons and bespoke offers which customers will find on their paper receipts.

The coupons will be issued at over 1,100 stores nationwide, after Ecrebo’s software was successfully tried in 250 branches, Lloydspharmacy said yesterday (May 12).

The coupons, with offers based on what the customer has bought previously, will range from free giveaways, discounts and money to spend in-store and online, the multiple explained.

‘When the receipt is handed to the customer, their offer will be read aloud by the colleague serving them, helping to drive thousands of unique conversations every day in the 1,100 pharmacies utilising the software,’ it also added.

Kyle Rowe, chief marketing and digital officer at McKesson UK, parent company to LloydsPharmacy, said the chain was currently going through an ‘exciting period of transformation’.

He said that LloydsPharmacy partnership with Ecrebo was about ‘better understanding [customer] needs so [they] can provide a one-to-one shopping experience, rewarding [customers] with offers that are tailored to their shopping tendencies in real-time.’

He added: ‘We want our pharmacies to be a consumer destination for OTC products, as well as prescriptions and healthcare services, and as we continue to innovate and drive our omnichannel strategy forward, partnerships with companies like Ecrebo will become increasingly important in helping us to achieve our vision.’

Commenting othe new coupon initative, David Buckingham, CEO at Ecrebo, said that this was the first time a pharmacy chain in the UK has adopted this specific marketing technology, and that the results so far have been ‘really encouraging.’

In July, McKesson UK CEO, Toby Anderson outlined potential plans to restructure the business, to protect the company’s long-term future after facing ‘increased costs’ and a ‘reduction in income,’ exaggerated by Covid-19 pressures.

LloydsPharmacy and online delivery company Deliveroo partnered in June to launch a new service that offers delivery of over the counter medicines to patients’ doors in under half an hour.