Walgreens Tests Foursquare Coupons

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About 11 months after Walgreens became the first national advertiser on Foursquare, the retailer is running the first nationwide coupon on the mobile app.

According to a prepared release from the firms this morning, the initial coupon offers 50 percent off Arizona Ice Tea in a can. The coupons, limited one per customer, are available through March 10.

Walgreens patrons who record Foursquare check-ins at the brand's 8,000-plus stores via their iPhone, Android, or BlackBerry smartphones get a scannable digital code that's immediately redeemable in the store.

"We're using mobile technology and social media to better engage Walgreens customers, to give them convenient channels to interact with us and to deliver products, services and savings they truly value, " said Sona Chawla, Walgreens president of e-commerce, in a prepared statement.

Eric Friedman, director of Foursquare business development, said in the release, "Walgreens has been an innovative partner on the foursquare platform and this is a perfect opportunity to test our new functionality."

During late March 2011, Walgreens awarded Foursquare check-ins with 15 percent off eligible items and 20 percent off Walgreens-branded products. The new campaign is similar, but combines check-ins with coupon redemptions. It will enable the stores to track the geo-social campaign from a more traditional, point-of-sale view with scannable codes.

Walgreens' mobile couponing effort - not on Foursquare - over the holidays helped encourage 500,000 downloads of its mobile app, according to the retailer. The brand is increasingly targeting on-the-go consumers, running mobile ads that push its app downloads via content sites like Huffington Post in recent weeks.