Last week, CVS Health announced the official opening of the company's new Digital Innovation Lab in Boston. With the move, the pharmacy giant joined other brick and click retailers opening similar operations, including Home Depot, Staples, Target and Walmart.
The goals of the lab include pursuing innovation in mobile, multi-channel e-commerce and personalization. The company, which claims its services reach 100 million customers annually, said it intends to seek partnerships with both startups and established companies.
"Part of what we're doing here is access to talent," Brian Tilzer, senior vice president and chief digital officer for CVS Health, told BetaBoston, "but the bigger idea is having a way we can engage with the startup community in digital health care to solve things that we can't solve alone, and become a partner of choice to emerging companies."
CVS plans to roll out a wide range of digital services over the next year, including the use of beacons to send customers pharmacy reminders while they shop in stores. It also intends to develop apps that will turn mobile devices into "remote diagnostic tools."
"We're going to invent things here that don't exist anywhere on the planet, things that can be focused on what truly matters: our health," Mr. Tilzer told Fast Company. "We're using digital to change health outcomes of millions of Americans."
Photo: CVS
The lab, located in Boston's Back Bay, will ultimately employ up to 100 team members. The idea is for the lab team to complement the 100 digital pros currently working at CVS's Digital Experience Center in the company's home of Woonsocket, RI.
The debut of the Digital Innovation Lab was somewhat overshadowed by last week's announcement that CVS had reached a $1.9 billion deal with Target to operate pharmacies inside the mass merchandiser's stores along with rebranding existing health clinics in the chain's stores to its own MinuteClinic banner.
- CVS Health Opens Digital Innovation Lab in Boston - CVS Health
- CVS's new digital innovation lab aims to engage local startups - BetaBost/The Boston Globe (tiered sub.)
- Not Just a Pharmacy: CVS Unveils Its Digital Innovation Lab - Fast Company
- Will the Target/CVS pharmacy deal lead to a future merger? - RetailWire