Walmart builds on ‘adaptive retail’ experience with same-day pharmacy deliveries

Walmart is rolling out same-day pharmacy delivery across the US, making it the “first to integrate pharmacy, general merchandise, and grocery in a single online order,” according to the company.

“Same-Day Pharmacy Delivery, one of Walmart’s most expansive technology undertakings, is a tech-powered store-to-door service, using a combination of highly complex in-store and cloud-based technology platforms, AI capabilities and a new geospatial platform,” the company said in a press release.

The retail giant touted the launch as a win for what it calls “Adaptive Retail,” a term Walmart executives started using last year to refer to what they see as a new and improved approach to omnichannel.

As Suresh Kumar, global chief technology officer and chief development officer at Walmart, put it last year, “it’s retail that is not only e-commerce or in-store, but a single, unified retail experience that seamlessly blends the best aspects of all channels.”

It seems “unified” is the keyword for Walmart, which said the offering is a response to customers providing feedback that they preferred to stop for other items when they pick up their prescriptions in-store.

To meet this demand, Walmart marshaled hundreds of employees to connect its pharmacies with its e-commerce and delivery systems.

Walmart’s AI-powered delivery platform, Spark, has also been equipped with geospatial technology to precisely determine delivery areas that are “customized for each store using customer insights and external data—an approach that far outperforms traditional metrics such as zip code or distance from the store.”

Walmart rival Target currently offers same-day pharmacy delivery through a partnership with CVS, but the buying process is not integrated with the rest of its online shop. In addition, CVS recently announced that it was closing dozens of pharmacies located at Target stores.