WOONSOCKET, R.I. – A new initiative by CVS drug stores will allow consumers to order products from the front of the store—typical convenience products—or the pharmacy to be picked up later with curbside delivery.
The CVS drug store chain announced April 19 a partnership with Curbside, a company that facilitates store pickup for retailers and consumers, to launch CVS Express, a digital solution aiming to offer consumers a new level of convenience.
CVS Health is also investing in Curbside, demonstrating the company's commitment to driving further innovations that will help customers save time and money while pursuing a healthier lifestyle.
"Retail pharmacy is an exciting, competitive landscape that is ripe for digital innovation," said Helena Foulkes, executive vice president, CVS Health, and president, CVS Pharmacy. "This partnership with Curbside allows CVS Health to offer new and more convenient ways for our customers to shop with us ultimately making it easier for them to enjoy a healthy lifestyle in a way that works best for them."
CVS Express is the industry's first retail solution that integrates Curbside's market-leading technology right into the CVS Pharmacy app. With CVS Express, customers can make mobile, in-app purchases from their local CVS Pharmacy and have those products delivered directly to them when they pull up to the store, all in about one hour with no markups or added costs for convenience, according to the company.
Created in less than three months in the CVS Digital Innovation Lab in partnership with Curbside, CVS Express embodies the digital mission of CVS Health to make healthy lifestyles more accessible and convenient for customers nationwide, the company said.
"We believe digital tools are the key to making health care convenient, personal and affordable for our customers, and CVS Express is a perfect embodiment of our digital mission," said Brian Tilzer, senior vice president and chief digital officer, CVS Health. "By working closely with our retail team and partnering with Curbside, who brought industry-leading technology to our platform, we rapidly developed a seamless and simple solution that creates a significant time savings for customers. We are committed to redefining convenience and this will be one of many steps on that journey."
CVS Health said it will continue to redefine retail convenience during 2016 and beyond with an investment in Curbside as it develops the latest technology to evolve the retail shopping experience.
"We founded Curbside to help make shopping at neighborhood stores faster and easier than ever before," said Jaron Waldman, co-founder and CEO of Curbside. "Our proprietary location technology ensures seamless, reliable order handoff at the moment a customer arrives, and our console app powers an efficient pick and pack operation for CVS Pharmacy colleagues to prepare orders in the store. In partnership with CVS Health, we've created a fast, convenient new shopping experience that busy CVS Pharmacy customers are going to love."
CVS Express is currently available in San Francisco, Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta, and will begin rolling out to additional CVS Pharmacy locations later this year. It is applicable to all front store and over-the-counter items, with no added cost to the customer for utilizing the service.
CVS Health is a pharmacy innovation branch of CVS drug stores. CVS owns and operates approximately 9,600 retail pharmacies.
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