Easy Saver Fans Want More From Walgreens EZ Saver Program, Bring The Savings Back
The Walgreens easy saver program has been discontinued as of May of 2009. While the ez saver program was met with few complaints from customers, as it amounted to considerable savings it is of the opinion that Walgreens should reinstitute their program and bring the savings back to their customers.
For the ez saver, the Walgreens easy saver template was a great program that allowed customers to achieve significant savings on a monthly basis. Whatever the reason for its continuation, it is recommended that Walgreens bring back the program. It is also recommended that other retailers institute a similar ez saver program in order to incentivize customers and pass on savings to their customers.
The ez saver program was based on discounted items from the Walgreen’s flyer, which identified items that qualified for rebates. Likely, many of these items were slow moving and the ez saver program could help Walgreens manage their inventory in a much more effective manner. When a customer purchased one of the easy saver items, the receipt and the easy saver catalog allowed for a rebate to be mailed or sent online to Walgreens. The rebate checks were limited to one per month, which may have affected the adoption of the program.
The ez saver program was a great concept that may have had more success with terminals in the stores from which an individual could either scan their receipt in order to catalogue their savings or have it done at the register. The additional steps that were required of the customers resulted in unclaimed rebates playing in favor of Walgreens; however, this also limited the participation of the easy saver.
In these instances, automation could have really pushed this program over the top. Some of the very valuable aspects of the ez saver program was in the increased dollar value to the customer that would provide a bonus for choosing to use a gift card for Walgreens instead of a cash rebate. The increase chosen was an additional 10% increase for choosing the easy saver gift card.
As a result, a rebate of $14.95 would turn into an easy saver gift card worth $16.45 toward the purchases of additional products at Walgreens. The major drawback of the program was in the manual nature, which is part of the value of rebate programs as many of the rebates incentivize the customers to purchase the ez saver items only to not submit the rebate so that they go unclaimed.
The setup cost of the accounting and ez saver rebate check dispursement had already been incurred so it only makes sense to ensure that individuals actually use the ez saver program to its maximum.
Bobby Blair is a freelance writer interested in helping the ez saver save money. The ez saver program that was setup and then discontinued by Walgreens was a good step for helping patrons get more for their dollar.