U.S. drugstore chain CVS will be working with Curbside to offer its customers a pick-up service at nearly all of its 8,000 stores by the end of 2016.
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Curbside now offers curbside pickup of orders at CVS stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta, and will be rolling the Express service out to other stores later in the year.
The service is a kind of Click & Collect with a twist.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation’s largest food retailer, announced last week it was adding eight new markets to its free curbside grocery pickup including Austin, Texas, and Charleston, South Carolina.
Local media have reported that CVS is also taking an undisclosed stake in Curbside.
“We are committed to redefining convenience and this will be one of many steps on that journey”, said Brian Tilzer, the senior vice-president and chief digital officer for CVS Health.
The trend fits comfortably within the buy-online-pick-up-in-store trend that is now available at many major big-box retailers – except at CVS you won’t have to get out of your vehicle.
CVS customers can use CVS Express to purchase all front store and over-the-counter items at no additional cost. “In partnership with CVS Health, we’ve created a fast, convenient, new shopping experience that busy CVS Pharmacy customers are going to love”.
CVS is betting on convenience with CVS Express, where an employee of the store will deliver the ordered goods to the shopper’s auto and it allows shoppers get the goods without leaving their cars. 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.
Foulkes told Fortune that CVS will not charge consumers a fee for using CVS Express services. For more information about Curbside, please visit https://shopcurbside.com/retailers/About the CVS HealthCVS Health is a pharmacy innovation company helping people on their path to better health.
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Your purchase is ready for curbside pickup within about an hour, and the pickup process takes 20 seconds because Curbside’s detection software notifies store workers when you are approaching, according to a news release issued today.
