Amazon CEO sells Wall Street on its same-day pharmacy delivery business
The company aims to offer same-day delivery to half of all Americans next year, just as Walmart expects to expand its same-day Rx delivery business in 2025.
Amazon.com is continuing to move ahead with its long-running efforts to shake up the U.S. health care system.
Andy Jassy, the chief executive officer of the web-based retailer and technology services company, highlighted expansion at the company’s Amazon Pharmacy division Thursday during a conference call with securities analysts.
“There are so many things we’re energized by right now,” Jassy said during the call. But Jassy said one thing that should help Amazon customers and other U.S. consumers the most is the effort to make same-day prescription delivery available in 20 more cities in 2025.
The pharmacy division can offer delivery within 24 hours to 20% of the U.S. consumers who sign up for the company’s Amazon Prime program, and it can offer delivery within two business days to 95% of new Amazon Pharmacy customers, Jassy said.
The footprint expansion planned for 2025 should make same-day prescription delivery available within about half of the United States, Jassy said.
“We believe making it easier for customers to get their medications will improve medication adherence,” Jassy said.
Related: Amazon to deliver same-day prescriptions in 20 more U.S. cities in 2025
Amazon held the call to go over earnings for the third quarter. The company is reporting $9.9 billion in net income for the quarter on $143 billion in revenue. It did not include any information about pharmacy division sales in its earnings release or quarterly financial statement.
Jassy’s remarks come just a few days after Walmart announced that it will be adding same-day prescription delivery in six states.
Walmart ranked fifth on the Drug Channels Institute’s 2023 list of the 15 highest-revenue U.S. pharmacies, with about $31 billion in prescription revenue.
Amazon did not show up on the institute’s list. That could be because of a decision not to disclose prescription revenue, or it could reflect problems with building pharmacy market share.
Even if Amazon is a relatively small pharmacy market player, its expanded same-day prescription delivery program could combine with Mark Cuban’s new pharmacy distribution venture to put pressure on the existing players and help reshape how employer health plan enrollees fill their prescriptions.