CVS extending Curbside pick-up service
US drugstore chain CVS will be working with Curbside to offer its customers a pick-up service at almost all of its 8,000 stores by the end of 2016. The CVS Express service has reportedly been running as a pilot programme in areas of California, North Carolina, and Georgia – but is now set for a national roll-out.
The service is a kind of Click & Collect with a twist. Customers order their goods using the CVS mobile app and they are notified when the items are ready (which should be within an hour of the order being placed). Then, as they approach the store, Curbside’s technology alerts a CVS worker to bring the order outside for pick-up.
Local media have reported that CVS is also taking an undisclosed stake in Curbside. A report published by re/code yesterday (18 April) said the CVS has also been running a pilot programme in Boston with on-demand delivery company Instacart – but it quotes Brian Tilzer, CVS’s chief digital officer, as saying that he thinks the fact that Curbside is free “is going to be the winning formula for our customers.”
