Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

Walgreens has finally committed to putting planograms of every store on its own mobile app by the end of this month. Back in mid-July, we pointed out that although the drugstore chain would be the first major retailer to do that, hardly any customers would know about it because the store maps would only be available on an app from the vendor (Aisle411), not Walgreens.

Why did Walgreens flip? The chain had been considering such a move throughout, Aisle411 CEO Nathan Pettyjohn said on Wednesday (Sept. 5), but wanted to first let the vendor go live so that it could be tested publicly for glitches without risking associating any problems with Walgreens directly. Within a few weeks, Walgreens had tested sufficiently that it agreed to incorporate the planograms into its core app. Walgreens, which is expected to announce this feature imminently, did not comment for this story. And it’s still not clear how—or even if—Walgreens will tell its customers about the new functionality, whether through its homepage, in-store signage, E-mail blasts or other advertising. That’s been a key issue with mobile features, the lack of “selling” them to customers and the lack of any incentives to encourage shoppers to try them.