Source: CVS Pharmacy
Who will win the race for door-delivered consumer purchases of prescription drugs?
Last June, CVS declared itself as the first national drugstore chain to offer next- and two-day delivery of prescription drugs from all its stores. At the time, the pharmacy chain said that 80 percent of orders were delivered next-day with the balance delivered within a two-day window.
That same month, Amazon.com announced the acquisition of the online pharmacy service, PillPack, which delivers pre-sorted doses of prescribed medicines in envelopes to customers.
Walgreens launched its Express next-day delivery service with FedEx on a nationwide basis in December. The drugstore chain is also expanding a same-day delivery program it began with the parcel service last year.
Moving to the present, CVS yesterday has announced that it can make deliveries to customers within hours of prescriptions being filled. The drugstore chain is working with Target-owned Shipt to make deliveries from 6,000 CVS locations across the U.S.
CVS customers can opt to pick up prescription meds or having then delivered when orders are filled. To receive deliveries, they have a choice of using the chain’s mobile app and selecting on-demand delivery, making the request through a SMS text or by calling their local pharmacy.
Same-day deliveries come with a $7.99 service charge. CVS is making a wide selection of front-end items available as well via its same-day service. Next-day or two-day deliveries have a $4.99 charge attached.