One Drop BGM now available in hundreds of Walmart retail stores, including one year of free in-app CDE coaching – October 9, 2019

$39.98 for starter kit; Follows Apple Store retail distribution in June and $40 million Series B financing last month

This morning, One Drop announced that its Chrome BGM and supplies are now available at “hundreds” of Walmart retail stores in the US – a tremendous distribution win with the nation’s largest retailer. With the purchase of the discounted $39.98 One Drop starter kit (Bluetooth-enabled BGM, strips, lancing supplies), users also get one year of free CDE coaching within the One Drop app. That is a pretty great deal.

The Walmart retail pricing for One Drop strips will be the same as on Walmart.com – 50 strips for $24.95 ($0.52/strip). Of course, many One Drop users might prefer to reorder strips in the app and use the monthly subscription models, which range from ~$27 month for one strip per day to ~$50 per month for unlimited strips (billed quarterly). One Drop has an excellent “Build Your Plan” feature that allows for nice customization. ReliOn Premier strips, manufactured by Arkray, are a better retail deal at Walmart at $9 for 50 strips; obviously those don't include any coaching.

Today’s Walmart news follows a similar June announcement of One Drop distribution in brick-and-mortar Apple stores – including the same starter kit and one year of free coaching (priced a bit higher at $69.95). The meter has long been available on Amazon and BestBuy.com.

One Drop is fresh off of last month’s $40 million in Series B financing, led by Bayer Pharma and moving the company into broader chronic conditions (oncology, CVD, women's health).

We’re glad to see connected BGMs and coaching getting wider retail distribution, given the low penetration of Bluetooth meters, the obvious value-add from a data perspective (particularly One Drop’s BG forecast feature for T2D users), and the hassles of dealing with insurance and prescriptions. We wonder if a similar trajectory of retail distribution, subscription models, and coaching will take hold in CGM, assuming sensors can get to non-RX products…

--by Adam Brown and Kelly Close