Walgreens goes national with Instacart delivery

Walgreens has launched Instacart same-day delivery in Illinois as a springboard to bring the service to nearly 8,000 stores over the coming weeks. 

Tens of thousands of non-prescription products — including over-the-counter medicines, health and wellness items, beauty and personal care, household staples, and convenience items — are now available for Instacart delivery at Walgreens drugstores in Illinois in as soon as an hour, Walgreens and Instacart said Tuesday. 

Plans call for the Instacart service to expand to Walgreens locations southeastern Florida, Dallas, Atlanta, New York City and Washington, D.C., among other major markets, in the next several weeks, with a rollout to all 50 states during the spring, the companies said. Over time, a bigger assortment of products also will become available for delivery, they added.

Walgreens customers ordering for same-day service have their items picked and delivered by Instacart personal shoppers. (Image courtesy of Instacart)

“Convenience is at the core of what we do, and Walgreens is thrilled to be partnering with Instacart to bring customers a simple and trusted same-day delivery option for the products they need right to their door,” Stefanie Kruse, vice president of digital commerce and omnichannel at Walgreens, said in a statement. “This collaboration builds upon several other recent steps in our digital transformation to deliver health expertise to customers in new channels, which is timely given shifts in customer needs during the pandemic.” 

Related:Walgreens kicks off last-mile delivery with DoorDash

To access the Instacart service, Walgreens customers go online to instacart.com/walgreens or click on the Walgreens storefront in the Instacart mobile app and then begin shopping by adding items to their virtual cart. Instacart personal shoppers pick, pack and deliver the orders. Customers can chat directly with Instacart shoppers as products are being picked and get real-time updates on the status of their order.

San Francisco-based Instacart first launched with Walgreens in Chicago in early February before expanding the service to the drug chain’s more than 500 stores in Illinois. 

The new partnership enables Instacart to offer customers nationwide “an unmatched online assortment of Walgreens items available for same-day delivery,” according to Chris Rogers, vice president of retail at the online delivery giant. 

“As one of the largest drugstore chains in the U.S., Walgreens is a trusted household brand that people have relied on for more than 100 years,” Rogers commented. “We’re excited to provide a seamless, safe and reliable experience to Walgreens customers across the country, giving them a new way to have the over-the-counter medications and health products they depend on delivered from the store to their door in as fast as an hour.”

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For Walgreens, Instacart marks the Deerfield, Ill.-based retailer’s 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 and with Postmates (now part of Uber) at more than 7,000 stores last March. Overall, Walgreens operates more than 9,000 stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Instacart now provides same-day delivery of non-prescription products for the three largest U.S. drug chains — CVS Health, Walgreens and Rite Aid — as well as Canada’s biggest drug chain, Shoppers Drug Mart (part of Loblaw Cos.). So far, Instacart provides prescription drug delivery only through Costco Wholesale in the United States, rolling out the service across the warehouse club chain’s pharmacies in May 2020 following a fall 2019 pilot.