CVS iPad App Gives Shoppers a Virtual Storefront Experience

Michael Garrity — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:45:00 GMT

Earlier this week, CVS launched an innovative new iPad application for online shoppers that provides them with a detailed, virtual 3D e-commerce experience in the palms of their hands.

With the app, customers can explore a digital version of a CVS/pharmacy store to shop for products or access services from the Pharmacy, ExtraCare, Photo Center or MinuteClinic departments. This interactive pathway provides customers with a personalized shopping experience and brings the virtual drugstore to life, so that they can access it on-the-go, or from the comfort of their own homes.

Some of the features in the app include: enhanced prescription management, access to weekly ads, an online and mobile Photo Center and a catalog-style shopping experience.

“The new CVS iPad app provides the millions of customers who visit CVS.com on a tablet device each month with a virtual feeling of visiting their neighborhood CVS/pharmacy from their homes or on-the-go,” said the company’s Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, Brian Tilzer.

The development of this new e-commerce application marks one of the first times that a major retail brand has released a virtual 3D store for a mobile device. But as mobile shopping, particularly on tablets, continues to rapidly gain popularity among consumers, it seems safe to expect to see these kinds of digital storefronts proliferate, especially from major large-scale retailers that have the technology and development teams to create them.

What do you think about virtual storefronts? Would you like to see them become more commonplace in mobile e-commerce? Let us know in the replies!

E-Commerce: SortPrice Facebook App for Merchants

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:35:00 GMT

Shopping search engine SortPrice is expanding its merchant store application on the Facebook Platform.

Available only to Sortprice merchants, the free application works with merchants' existing Sortprice product listings, allowing them to build virtual stores on Facebook. Recent enhancements enable shoppers to compile a wish list of items from a particular merchant's store that are viewable to all users and are the foundation for a truly interactive shopping experience. Visitors can comment on other users' wish lists, indicate particular items that they like, and even invite friends and family to check out wish lists or specific products.

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While it's up for debate whether Facebook users are shopping on the social networking site or even adding products to wish lists, merchants using Sortprice should be using the app if only for the potential for additional exposure. Many of the service's current clients are currently using the app, including PetSmart, SpyTown, and AmericaRX. "Our sales are beginning to ramp up," said Rian Cool, outbound marketing manager of CharityUSA, one Sortprice merchant using the application. "Many people are on Facebook all day long, so it's kind of like having them on our store all day long. With how the application behaves, it's a huge plus for us to have a large volume of outbound links available on Facebook to our product landing pages."

"The positive response from merchants who have utilized this application since it was introduced eight months ago has been nothing short of tremendous," said Asaf Klibansky, Sortprice co-founder and CTO. "Many of them are witnessing substantial increases in traffic and sales, and with these improvements, those numbers should only continue to rise."

'Net Features : shopping apps

CVS iPad App Gives Shoppers a Virtual Storefront Experience

E-Commerce: SortPrice Facebook App for Merchants