Walgreens Teams With Banyan for Item-Level Data

Walgreens has formed a partnership with Banyan, a platform offering merchants item-level receipt data solutions.

By adding Banyan’s item-level data capabilities, the companies said on its blog Monday (May 20), Walgreens will be able to offer a “true omnichannel experience,” with platforms combining the physical and digital.

“This is an exciting collaboration between Walgreens and Banyan,” Banyan President Alpesh Chokshi said in the announcement. “Walgreens is the go-to destination for the daily needs of millions of shoppers, and Banyan’s item-level data platform capabilities will help the Walgreens team deliver better health and wellbeing for their customers, patients and communities.”

PYMNTS Intelligence research has shown that item-level receipt data, which offers detailed information on individual purchases, helps businesses bolster customer experiences and promote operational efficiency.

According to “Meeting the Need for Item-Level Receipt Data: Why Data Infrastructure is Key to a Better Customer Experience,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Banyan collaboration, 72% of businesses believe that consumers would be at least somewhat likely to switch to companies that provide solutions based on the use of item-level receipt data to benefit from more detailed spending insights, more relevant shopping deals and a more efficient shopping experience.

The research also found that 43% of companies expect that using item-level receipt data will lead to an improved customer experience, allowing them to gain insights into customer preferences, shopping habits and spending behavior.

“This information can then be used to tailor offers, rewards programs and shopping deals that are more relevant and appealing to individual customers,” PYMNTS wrote. “For example, merchants can deliver personalized card-linked offers based on specific categories or products, driving increased digital engagement and top-of-wallet spend behavior.”

The partnership comes as Walgreens is making more of an effort to engage with its customers as consumers cut back.

“Within retail, our U.S. customers confronting considerable pressure from multiyear inflationary trends and depleted household savings, with U.S. household debt at record levels and delinquency rates on the rise,” CEO Tim Wentworth said in March.

“Our shopper is making deliberate choices to seek value resulting in channel-shifting behavior. We’re responding to these market dynamics by making investments in key value items and focusing our capabilities to engage with customers in an intelligent, targeted way.”

As noted here at the time, those types of “intelligent, targeted” communications could go a long way, with research by PYMNTS Intelligence and AWS showing that 71% of consumers received personalized offers and showed interest in them, while another 12% who did not receive personalized offers were nonetheless interested in them.