Walmart expands same-day pharmacy delivery nationwide
Walmart Inc. is delivering prescription medications directly to customers' doorsteps — along with their other purchases — from stores in as soon as 30 minutes across 49 states.
The discount giant is making same-day pharmacy delivery available in 49 states for both new prescriptions and medication refills, with some exceptions. Walmart initially launched the service, which it says is the first to Rx medications and general merchandise into one streamlined single order for delivery, in October 2024.
At that time, Walmart offered same-day pharmacy delivery in six states: Arkansas, Missouri, New York, Nevada, South Carolina and Wisconsin, and said it expected to take the service national by the end of January 2025.
[READ MORE: Walmart goes live with same-day pharmacy delivery]
The move comes as Walgreens and CVS are downsizing their store fleets as they work to improve their businesses. Both chains offer same-day pharmacy delivery.
Meanwhile, chief Walmart rival Amazon plans to open pharmacies in 20 new cities across the U.S. in 2025, more than doubling the number of cities where customers can get same-day delivery of their medications.
The new pharmacies will be embedded in Amazon same-day delivery sites in metropolitan areas including Boston, Dallas, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and San Diego.
The same-day pharmacy delivery network is compliant with federal HIPAA laws and connected to Walmart’s AI-based Spark delivery platform. Spark is now using new geospatial technology to define delivery catchments (areas) with greater precision.
Walmart customizes these catchments for each store using customer insights and external data, which it says outperforms traditional metrics such as ZIP code or distance from the store.
Once a pharmacist fills a customer’s prescription, the customer is notified through their Walmart.com account that their order is ready to be delivered. At this time, they can select their delivery preference (such as same-day or one-day).
New or existing insurance plans will be applied to the transaction as they would when picking up a prescription in-store. A driver will bring the order to the customer’s location during their preferred time window. Medications are delivered in tamper-evident packaging and customers can track their orders in real time.
Members of the Walmart+ paid subscription program will receive free pharmacy delivery as a membership benefit and other customers will be be charged based on delivery preference.
Based in Bentonville, Ark., Walmart Inc. operates more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 19 countries.