The Amazon Echo Spot.
“Alexa, order Vicodin.”
Can you imagine a future where Amazon is your pharmacy — where a single click or a simple voice command could have prescription medicine winging their way to your door?
According to a CNBC report, the giant retailer is about to decide whether to make a move on the prescription drug market.
Don’t get too excited just yet. Even if the report is true and Amazon decides to dive in, the first step probably won’t be drones dropping pills from the sky.
According to a Goldman Sachs analyst report from earlier this year — which predicted Amazon might make such a move — it could be something as boring as delivering drugs to existing pharmacies first.
Either way, it starts with Amazon reinforcing or building a new drug supply chain, which could take years. CNBC notes that Amazon’s first move would be to hire supply chain experts — which gives you some idea how early along the effort might be.
Speaking of Amazon building or replacing supply chains, you might be interested to read this report from Bloomberg today, which details how Amazon could soon rely on UPS and FedEx a bit less as it continues to reinforce its own shipping network.
How long before Amazon delivers all the packages, I wonder?
According to CNBC’s source, Amazon plans to make a decision about entering the drug sales business before Thanksgiving.
Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about prescription drug sales, but offered this statement regarding the Bloomberg report: “We are using the same carrier partners to offer this program that we’ve used for years, including UPS, USPS and FedEx.”
Read our report on how drones are delivering blood to Rwanda.
