Retail health care has been disrupting traditional health care with retail giants entering the industry; the upheaval comes on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Walmart, Amazon and Dollar General are taking their health care in person and online, competing against each other and against drug chains and other medical services establishments.
“Walmart has the scale and incentive to make an impact (in health care),” NYU Stern School of Business marketing professor Scott Galloway told Forbes. “Rural Americans are closer on average to a Walmart than to a hospital, and as the largest private employer in the world, Walmart’s health care costs are its biggest expense after wages.”
Walmart launched Walmart Health in 2019 and expanded the program to 15 locations at the end of last year, Forbes reported.
Galloway also noted that “Amazon and Walmart are… fighting the largest proxy world in the business world: health care.” Both companies have recently added prescription drugs to their membership perks programs. Amazon is expanding its previously internal Amazon Care program to the public, which includes a remote medical consult.
Dollar General has started rolling out fresh produce and meat to a small percentage of its stores, according to Forbes. Additionally, it has hired its first-ever chief medical officer who will be responsible for expanding the product and service offerings to its over 17,400 stores, targeting to “build and enhance affordable health care offerings,” especially to those in the rural communities.
