Walmart is introducing yet another CVS killer: 30-minute prescription delivery. Walmart is already partially to blame for the gradual decline of America’s pharmacies.
Walmart makes a straightforward offer to customers: order your prescription filled and have goods delivered right to your home. According to a press release from the company, clients’ top request was for prescription delivery.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Tom Ward, executive vice president and chief eCommerce officer of Walmart U.S., stated, “If you’re sick, we can deliver the necessary medication along with everything else you need to feel better.”
According to Walmart, more than 86% of American households will have access to the service, which is already operational in six states and is expected to expand to 49 states by 2025. In the United States, the firm operates around 4,600 pharmacies.
The announcement of Walmart’s foray into prescription delivery comes after years of severe layoffs for both pharmacy-focused businesses as a result of changing consumer behavior, competition, and developments in the pharmacy sector, according to drugstore chains CVS and Walgreens.
The biggest chain in the US, CVS, shut down 244 locations between 2018 and 2020. It declared plans to close a further 900 outlets in 2021. Walgreens announced earlier this month that it would close nearly 1,200 stores, and CVS announced that it would eliminate roughly 2,900 corporate positions.
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The move doesn’t only bring more competition to traditional brick-and-mortar pharmacies. Amazon, too, launched its own pharmacy in 2020 to ship prescriptions to Prime members with free two-day delivery.
As their financial struggles continue, pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens are having trouble contending with competitors like Walmart and Amazon that have much stronger online presences with products like household items and snacks that are traditionally sold in the front of the store.
