Private label phone cards
As drug chains continue to play up convenience, it s perhaps a no-brainer that they begin to market store-brand telephone cards.
Rite Aid and CVS, in partnerships with MCI, each have store-branded telephone calling cards, which both chains promoted aggressively this past holiday season. And now Walgreens has introduced its own calling cards in partnership with IDT Corp., a multinational carrier and telephone company.
The new Walgreens phone cards, launched last quarter, are being sold in $10, $20 and $40 denominations in all Walgreens stores.
Carol Hiveley, a spokeswoman for Walgreens, said the calling cards “provide an exceptional value to our customers.” For $10, she noted, consumers get 100 minutes of phone time, 250 minutes for $20 and 600 minutes for $40.
The cards give chains a chance to generate incremental sales from shoppers already in their stores, as well as a store brand-specific new item to promote in their ads. And because price points reach as high as $40, the cards also give chains a chance to maximize their selling space because the cards can be merchandised compactly on a power-wing or simple clip-strip.
Turns, one Walgreens store manager said, are very much above average.
The cards a so make ideal traffic-builders during the holidays, when friends and families maintain greater contact. Both Rite Aid and CVS this past Christmas ran buy-one-get-one promotions for their calling cards. As an everyday value, Walgreens offers a 10 percent discount to refill its phone cards in its stores.
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COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
