(Reuters) -U.S. retailer Walmart (NYSE:WMT) on Tuesday said it will start delivering prescription medicines and medication refills along with groceries and other items as a single order within 30 minutes, upping the ante in its delivery competition against Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Inc.
Walmart's move comes a couple of weeks after Amazon announced plans to open pharmacies offering same-day delivery options across 20 new U.S. cities in 2025. It is also an extension of Walmart's previous efforts to mail prescription medications which typically took at least five to seven business days.
The speedier prescription delivery service would compete against other same-day pharmacy delivery offerings provided by retailers such as CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) and Walgreens.
Walmart, which operates 4,600 U.S. pharmacies and 3,000 vision centers across the country, said its pharmacy delivery service would be free for members of its $98 per year Walmart Plus membership program while non-members need to pay $9.95.
The service will be available to customers in 49 states by the end of January next year. Currently, customers in six states, namely Arkansas, Missouri, New York, Nevada, South Carolina and Wisconsin can use the service.
Walmart said it decided to launch the service after more than half of respondents in an internal consumer research survey expressed a desire to have prescription medications delivered along with groceries and other items in one order.
Walmart will use drivers from its Spark Driver gig-delivery network to make some of these speedy deliveries, a company spokesman said in an email. The company also employs other options to deliver orders within 30 minutes, such as drones.
Barring controlled substances, refrigeration items and Medicare Part B products, such as wheelchairs and oxygen containers, all medications are delivery eligible.
When customers place a pharmacy delivery order through Walmart's app or website, they must agree to terms allowing Walmart's pharmacy staff to contact their physicians and provide counseling by phone, the spokesperson said.
A delivery timeframe does not begin until prescriptions are authorized by a customer's physician. Once approved, customers can add the medications to their cart and pick either same-day, on-demand or express delivery timeframe, the spokesperson added.
This prescription delivery service is Walmart's latest effort to focus on its pharmacy network, following its decision to close 51 health clinics and its virtual healthcare operations in April.