Amazon stock rose on the final day of its two-day Prime Big Deal Days discount event. The tech giant also added a new wrinkle to its push to capture more pharmacy spending.
On the stock market today, Amazon stock is up 1% at 224.44 in recent trading. Shares are just above Amazon stock's 21-day moving average, a short-term investor support level that the stock has been trading below since late last month.
Amazon has been lagging the S&P 500 with a 2.1% overall gain year-to-date. It has been hit by concerns about tariffs and stiff competition for AI-related cloud business. Amazon stock is also the worst performance among the Magnificent Seven tech giant stocks. But Amazon's shares have shown signs of life this month, with small gains in five of the previous six trading days.
The company launched its annual Prime Big Deals Days discount event for members on Tuesday, with deals through the end of Wednesday. The event is a smaller, autumn version of Amazon's major summer Prime Day discount event. it also seen as an unofficial starting point for holiday shopping.
Analysts are forecasting a more challenging retail environment this holiday season. Consumers are weighing concerns about tariffs and the broader economy. Adobe projects that total U.S. online sales from November though December will growth 5.3% year-over-year. That's a slowdown from the roughly 8% year-over-year growth in 2024.
Amazon Stock: Pharmacy Push
Separately, Amazon announced on Wednesday that it will launch prescription vending kiosks at some of its One Medical primary care clinics in the Los Angeles area.
"After a provider writes a prescription, patients can choose to have it sent to Amazon Pharmacy for in-office kiosk pickup," the company's Wednesday blog post said. "Using their mobile phone to check out in the Amazon app, medications are typically ready in minutes — with no separate trip to the pharmacy required."
Similar to its grocery efforts, Amazon has been trying a range of strategies to break further into pharmacy purchases. It's an area of retail where in-store purchases are far more common. Amazon launched its pharmacy unit in 2020, two years after it acquired the online pharmacy business PillPack.
The kiosk announcement comes exactly a year after Amazon announced it will open pharmacies in 20 U.S. cities, allowing for a same-day delivery in locations such Boston, Dallas and Philadelphia.
Pharmacy is part of a broader health care push that Chief Executive Andy Jassy has prioritized since he took over as chief executive in 2021. Amazon acquired One Medical in 2022 for $3.9 billion.
The company does not break out separate results for its health care efforts in its financial reports.
"We continue to be very pleased with the growth and resonance of Amazon Pharmacy," Jassy said on a conference call with analysts in late July. "It's grown 50% year-over-year, year-to-date on an already significant size base."
