Walgreens offers delivery in less than two hours

Walgreens has expanded its on-demand delivery options to include less-than-two-hour service for retail products.

The drugstore giant said Tuesday that customers nationwide can now shop from more than 24,000 items online directly from Walgreens.com or via the Walgreens mobile app and receive same-day home delivery. Only non-prescription items — spanning food and beverages, grocery, beauty and personal care, over-the-counter medicines and health products, vitamins and supplements, household goods, baby and child care, toys and seasonal offerings — are eligible for the contactless service.

To use the two-hour service, Walgreens customers shop via the website or app as usual and at checkout select “Same Day Delivery.” No minimum order is required, Walgreens said. Members of the myWalgreens loyalty program also can earn and use Walgreens Cash rewards with same-day delivery orders plus redeem digital promotions and savings offers.

Walgreens associates pick products ordered from store shelves, and a third-party logistics partner serves as the courier to make the delivery, according to the Deerfield, Ill.-based retailer. Logistics partners for the two-hour service include DoorDash, Uber, Act Fast and Medline.

More than 8,000 of the over 9,000 Walgreens and Duane Reade drugstores now offer under-two-hour delivery, with availability based on the service area of carrier partners, Walgreens said. Eligible products, delivery hours and fees vary by location. Age-restricted items and gift cards are excluded.

Related:Walgreens goes national with Instacart delivery

“As the country gets ready to emerge from the pandemic, Walgreens continues its focus on enhancing our customer experience through integrated and simplified shopping solutions,” Stefanie Kruse, vice president of digital commerce at Walgreens, said in a statement. “Since the launch of myWalgreens in November 2020, we are constantly innovating to provide convenient delivery options to our customers that make their lives easier. We are confident that customers will enjoy our new same-day delivery functionality for those last-minute needs.”

The new service builds on existing on-demand delivery options. In February, Walgreens launched same-day delivery via Instacart in Illinois, with plans to roll out the service chainwide by this spring, as well as offer a wider selection of eligible products.

Instacart marked Walgreens’ third on-demand delivery partner for non-prescription items. The drug chain kicked off last-mile delivery with DoorDash at over 2,300 stores in July 2020 and with Postmates (now part of Uber) at more than 7,000 stores in March 2020. Also, last November, Walgreens launched 30-minute click-and-collect service, with customers able to choose in-store, curbside and drive-thru pickup for front-of-store products and prescriptions.

Related:Walgreens kicks off last-mile delivery with DoorDash