Launching same-day delivery
Improving health outcomes by delivering medications in hours, not days
“We know the world doesn't need another pharmacy. We need a better pharmacy.”
Dr. Vin Gupta, Chief Medical Officer
Helping customers get and stay healthy — faster
Amazon Pharmacy is an online service that delivers medications to your door. By 2023, the company could deliver most prescriptions in one to four days, but wanted to make sure their service worked for customers who needed their prescriptions now.
Reducing delivery times from days to hours required an overhaul of our fulfillment strategy, including new software, new sites, and improved processes. As the sole designer, I led the design and research for the software and consulted on site design and process improvements.
Company
Amazon Pharmacy
Role
UX Design
UX Research
Process Engineering
Year
2022–2024
Understanding the problem
Before I could design a solution, I needed to fully understand the problem. Over the next few months, I visited fulfillment centers across the U.S. and spoke with pharmacists, technicians, and teams from operations, product, compliance, and patient safety.
I also toured retail and grocery fulfillment centers to explore how lessons from Amazon’s logistics network could be applied to pharmacy operations.
Inside an Amazon Pharmacy fulfillment center (Source)
“Becca was an amazing product partner. She took the initiative to come to our fulfillment centers, understand our processes, and get buy-in from teams directly. I can't tell you enough how much we all appreciated that.”
Joanne Yoon, Pharm.D, Pharmacist-in-Charge
Design tenets
From conversations and observations, I developed a list of tenets that would provide clear direction, streamline decisions, and keep our focus on improving the user experience for the pharmacists and technicians in our fulfillment centers.
Partnering in design
Designing fulfillment software required close coordination across multiple teams. To keep everyone aligned and encourage feedback, we held regular workshops in FigJam, allowing team members to leave comments and ask questions.
For confidentiality purposes, I have obscured feedback and images. View designs here (password required)
Prototyping our small-format sites
With tight timelines, we designed our software while another team developed new small-format sites that wouldn’t be ready before launch. To ensure compatibility, we built a 1:1 scale replica using cardboard and duct tape.
The prototype proved invaluable, serving as a training tool and playing a key role in a two-day offsite. There, we ran usability tests, timed processes, identified gaps, and reshaped our design and success metrics.
“Becca took on the challenge of merging digital and physical concepts that didn’t yet exist. She built the prototype site, organized user studies with Pharmacists, and conducted rate studies showing her software exceeded the building’s design by over 20%. Her work elevated the project from a B+ to an A+ launch in weeks.”
Drew Kull, Head of Product, Fulfillment
Launch
In November 2023, we launched our new software at the new small-format site in Brooklyn. Many team members flew in to handle bug fixes and UX updates in person, while the rest were available on Slack.
Shortly after launch, Amazon Pharmacy launched a major marketing push for the roll-out of same-day shipping in New York City and Los Angeles.
Launch team with our UPS driver taking the first shipments prepared using our new software
Impact
The launch of same-day delivery had a major impact on patients, helping them get their medications faster and improve their health sooner.
It also transformed Amazon Pharmacy's business, allowing us to compete not only with mail-order pharmacies but with all pharmacies.
“By bringing Amazon Pharmacy’s deliveries into our existing world-class logistics network, Amazon is building the fastest and most convenient service for the home delivery of prescription medications.”
Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores