One of the most convenient parts of living today is that almost everything is available to us with the simple press of a button.
Dinner, pet supplies, beauty products, groceries, exercise equipment, and pricey electronics are all readily available online.
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And they usually show up fast.
Thanks to a few major players in the retail space, the way we shop has wholly transformed compared to how we did it even a few years ago.
Most of those changes are primarily because of Amazon (AMZN) , which pioneered the convenience of online shopping in the early 2010s.
Back then, plenty of us were still used to popping into a shop or two to pick up what we needed. Whether it was groceries, supplements, clothing or books, we had longstanding habits. We could usually find everything we needed at just one or two stores, but it still meant an outing to a physical brick-and-mortar location.
But Amazon changed all that. It offered us quick and free delivery on millions of items, eliminating our need to go out for anything at all.
Image source: Jeff Schear/Getty Images for Walmart
Online giants rule how we shop
And as Amazon grew, so too did its customer base. Now, 200 million Prime members have been conditioned to expect all those conveniences to show up within about two days.
And other retailers have now scaled up their operations to rival Amazon’s.
Walmart (WMT) , for example, launched its own version of Amazon Prime around the pandemic in 2020, as many folks were forced to stay home and get their goods online.
Walmart+ undercuts Amazon Prime’s yearly — $98 per year vs. Prime’s $139 — and offers many of the same benefits. Subscribers enjoy free and fast shipping, access to many of the same products, such as supplements, pet supplies, clothing and more, and other perks, like savings on fuel.
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Ramping up a robust online fulfillment operation is usually no small feat, but Walmart already had the pieces in place.
The retailer has a location within 10 miles of approximately 90% of the U.S. population, and many of those locations double as fulfillment centers. This means last-mile shipping, which is usually one of the costliest and least efficient parts of the fulfillment process, was much easier and cheaper.
Walmart beating Amazon in key venture
Walmart and Amazon have been neck and neck for years.
While Walmart dominates in-person retail, Amazon captures the majority of e-commerce.
Both have been eagerly after the healthcare space, too.
Amazon purchased One Medical, a primary care operator, in 2023 for $3.9 billion, betting that it could become the center of healthcare for millions of Americans. It also operates its own pharmacy, Amazon Pharmacy, where shoppers can get their prescriptions and supplements shipped to them instead of having to go to a pharmacy.
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Walmart already operates pharmacies in many of its 4,600 locations, but at the height of its ambition, it launched about 50 Walmart Health clinics, its answer to primary care options.
Customers and patients could access same-day primary care, dental care, x-rays, labs, and more there.
Walmart closed then reopened some of its Health locations, but now it’s focused on pivoting to different health capabilities.
In January, the retail giant announced it will now offer same-day pharmacy delivery to 49 states.
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“The retailer [Walmart] is the first to integrate pharmacy, general merchandise and grocery in a single online order,” Walmart said.
Amazon has been racing to offer the same service, but has been slower on the rollout. It estimates that sometime in 2025, about 45% of customers should have access to its same-day pharmacy delivery.
Walmart credits artificial intelligence for the new service, but the fulfillment giant has a few tailwinds helping it out.
It called the same-day pharmacy delivery “a tech-powered store-to-door service, using a combination of highly complex in-store and cloud-based technology platforms, AI capabilities, and a new geospatial platform.”
To sweeten the deal, Walmart+ members will get free pharmacy delivery as a membership perk.