Walgreens chooses Postmates for grocery deliveries

Walgreens and Postmates are partnering to provide quick, convenient, on-demand delivery for customers looking for over-the-counter medications, health and wellness, beauty and grocery products.

Postmates will deliver hundreds of Walgreens’ most popular items from 174 Walgreens and Duane Reade locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Whether it will use its delivery robots remains to be seen, but it’s certainly an option in the long term.

Craig Whitmer, VP, merchant business development, Postmates, says: “In the last year, orders from convenience and drugstores have increased by 68 percent.

“By collaborating with Walgreens, we are able to provide our customers with even more convenience when it comes to everyday items that they need now.”

Bringing together the scale of Walgreens with the on-demand delivery service of Postmates will allow both businesses to better meet the needs of their customers. Postmates found that its customers are seeking many of the everyday items found at Walgreens.

For example, the top items New Yorkers order are Smart Water, Gatorade, San Pellegrino, Tylenol and Pedialyte.

Further, during last flu season, from August 2018 to January 2019, Postmates saw a 173 percent increase in orders for cough relief items, a 111 percent increase in sinus relief aids and a 50 percent spike in soup orders.

Joe Hartsig, chief merchandising officer, Walgreens, says: “We share Postmates’ commitment to providing customers with convenient, differentiated shopping experiences, and together we can help ensure our customers are getting what they need, when they need it.

“Particularly as we head into the peak season for flu, being able to bring our customers convenience items as well as cough and cold relief directly to their home can take the stress out of being sick.”

This news comes as the latest addition to Postmates roster of leading restaurants and retailers while continuing to solidify them as a leader in offering the most choice in on-demand delivery – including more than 500,000 restaurants, grocery and convenience stores, as well as traditional retailers.

The company now operates in more than 3,500 cities and has added some of the most sought-after local and national restaurants, serving 75 of the top 100 restaurants in the US.

To order items from participating Walgreens stores, visit Postmates.com or download Postmates on iOS or Android.

Customers can pay zero delivery fees when they subscribe to Postmates membership service, Postmates Unlimited, for $9.99 per month.