Can you feel the love?

Share of heart: That’s a pretty heady concept savvy marketers and retailers are using these days to describe a whole new level of consumer engagement.



This idea — winning share of heart — is a major theme behind our cover feature in this issue, “Walgreens Goes Big in Beauty,” which examines the journey the company has taken over the last several years to transform its customer experience in beauty. In fact, winning share of heart has emerged as an integral part of its “Go Big in Beauty” mission, Walgreens GVP/GMM Shannon Curtin told DSN. “We are on a quest to be the most shopped and most loved beauty destination,” Curtin explained.



That’s a lot more than just words. It’s one thing to pull some promotional lever to earn share of wallet; it’s quite another to make customers love you so much they just want to shop your stores. “Any savvy business person works hard to maximize share of wallet, but becoming the most loved in the heart of the customer is something you have to work on every day.”



The vision is pure and simple: Every time a customer comes into its stores or shops Walgreens online, they should feel a little more loved than they did the last time. “That takes steady, consistent work with a huge group of folks at corporate and with our talented 26,000 Beauty Advisors in the field,” Curtin said.



That commitment to becoming the “most loved,” plays out in everything Curtin and her team are doing to find new ways to engage with its customers, including some pretty creative programs, like its sponsorship in January of the People’s Choice Awards. “The branded entertainment platform provides great reach among our core customers and helps to elevate the visibility of our beauty offerings,” Curtain told DSN.



This idea of winning share of heart also is influencing the way retailers and suppliers are evolving their best partnerships. The concept was a major point of conversation at the 16th annual DSN Industry Issues Summit. If you weren’t able to join us back in December, an executive report of the transcript appears in this issue.



Critical to both of these relationships — retailer-supplier and retailer-customer — are trust and the ability to listen; you have to make them feel the love before they give you their hearts.