Walmart will begin delivering prescriptions to customers’ doors. Customers can also have additional items and medications dropped off, such as groceries.
Courtesy of Walmart
As CVS And Walgreens shutter hundreds of stores nationally for consolidate profits and investor sentiment, Walmart said Tuesday it is offering a new option to customers: delivering prescriptions to their doorstep.
The nation’s largest retailer said deliveries are now available in six states: Arkansas, Missouri, New York, Nevada, South Carolina and Wisconsin. The company said in a press release that it plans to deliver prescriptions to 49 states by the end of January. Prescription deliveries will not be available in North Dakota due to state laws, Walmart said.
The prescription delivery service is another example of how Walmart is trying to outdo its competitors on convenience and low prices. With the new service, customers can receive a mix of items dropped off in a single delivery, such as a box of tissues, a blanket or chicken noodle soup.
Walmart’s new delivery offering could be another blow to drugstore chains, which are losing favor with consumers amid a growing trend. hit their profits and stock prices and forced them to reconsider their strategies. However, it is unclear how much market share Walmart could capture from CVS and Walgreens, which offer Same-day, one-day, and two-day prescription deliveries.
Tom Ward, director of e-commerce at Walmart US, said the company added pharmacy deliveries because of demand from shoppers.
“It’s actually the No. 1 service our customers request,” he said.
Ward said Walmart tested deliveries in several states and found that customers took advantage of the ability to receive a mix of items, including prescription, in one delivery.
Walmart’s delivery service will be available for new prescriptions and refills, the company said. It will cost $9.95 for delivery, the standard price for Walmart home deliveries, but will be free for members of Walmart+, the company’s membership program.
Health insurance plans will be applied to the transaction, just as they would in-store, the company said.
The deliveries will come with a few extra security measures compared to other Walmart deliveries, the company said: The medications will be placed in tamper-proof packaging. Customers can track orders in real time through the Walmart app or website and get a photo in the app or email when the prescription is delivered. And when a customer orders a new prescription and chooses delivery, they are invited to do a consultation with the pharmacy over the phone.
Most of Walmart’s annual U.S. revenue — nearly 60% — comes from groceries, but health and wellness is a growing category for the company, according to the latest report retailer’s annual report for the year ended January 31. represents approximately 12% of its annual turnover in the United States. It includes pharmacy, over-the-counter drugs and other medical products, optical services and other clinical services.
A new challenge for pharmacies
As of Monday’s close, Walmart shares were up about 54% for the year. Meanwhile, shares of CVS have fallen about 26% so far this year, while shares of Walgreens have fallen nearly 60%.
CVS is the No. 1 U.S. pharmacy in prescription drug revenue, holding more than 25% market share in 2023, according to Statista data published in March. Walgreens lagged behind with nearly 15% of that share last year, while Walmart had just 5% of that share.
CVS and Walgreens are struggling with declining reimbursement rates for prescription drugs. Inflation, decline in consumer spending and competition from AmazonBig-box retailers and grocery stores are making it difficult to turn a profit at the front of the store, which carries cleaning supplies, beauty products and household essentials, among other items. eat.
Karen Lynch, CEO of CVS left the company and was replaced by David Joyner last week, as CVS faces pressure from Wall Street and, more recently, from an activist investor to turn around its business. In addition to the management shakeup, CVS plans to cut spending by $2 billion over several years. This involves the elimination of less than 1% of its workforce, or around 2,900 jobs, on the business side.
The company is also completing a three-year plan to close 900 of its stores, including 851 locations closed in August.
Walgreens is also cutting costs, announcing last week that it would do so. close around 1,200 stores over the next three years, including 500 in fiscal 2025 alone. The chain has about 8,700 locations in the United States, a quarter of which it says are unprofitable.
Walmart has faced its own financial challenges on the health care side. The discounter planned to bring its low-cost twist to health care by opening clinics offering lower-cost doctor appointments, dentist appointments and therapy.
However, in the spring, Walmart closed all clinicssaying in a press release at the time that it could not operate a profitable business due to the “challenging reimbursement environment and escalating operating costs.”
