Amazon plans to expand its drug delivery business as the company seeks more ways to insinuate itself into the daily lives of everyday Americans.
Next year, Amazon customers in 20 cities — including Dallas, Minneapolis and Philadelphia — will be able to get Amazon Pharmacy medications delivered by the company, Pharmacy VP Hannah McClellan Richards said Wednesday. And a growing number of those deliveries will be completed within less than 24 hours, the company said.
Richards said Amazon will double the number of cities with same-day delivery of medications next year, in part by building pharmacies in existing same-day delivery facilities that are “integrated directly into Amazon’s core logistics network.”
Amazon Pharmacy was built on Amazon’s 2018 acquisition of Pillpack for nearly $1 billion. The company has experimented with different offerings, such as the generic drug membership RxPass. But Amazon Pharmacy has also been slow to gain momentum, despite flashy announcements last year such as drug deliveries by drone.
Pharmacy retailers like CVS and Walgreens over the past year have struggled with labor issues and closed locations as the retail landscape shifts.
“As pharmacy deserts grow, digital-first pharmacies like Amazon offer a solution to care gaps,” the company said Wednesday.
The company also announced new efforts in the grocery space during an event Wednesday in Nashville, which focused on logistics, operations, and robotics, and was hosted outside an advanced robotics fulfillment center. Amazon said it is testing an offering in Phoenix that will allow customers to shop for groceries and Amazon’s online consumer goods simultaneously, and have items ordered from different stores delivered as part of the same shipment.
Amazon needs to find new markets to dominate to sustain its rate of growth. It has repeatedly highlighted health and grocery spaces as opportunities. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Amazon, which bought high-end grocery retailer Whole Foods in 2017 for $13 billion, has struggled to grow its grocery business, which includes Amazon Fresh, a high-tech, lower-price-point brand it scaled back last year. Amazon has been testing new markets and offerings such as Amazon Saver, a low-cost food brand that launched last month, and making more Whole Foods brand products available with Amazon Fresh deliveries.