Brick-and-Mortar Pharmacies Lag Behind Mail-Order, Digital Counterparts
Pharmacy customers are increasingly turning to mail-order businesses to provide the trust and reliability that they expect. The “J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Pharmacy Study” has found that overall satisfaction with mail-order pharmacies is increasing steadily, with a six-point rise (on a 1,000-point scale) in overall customer satisfaction this year. At the same time, chain drug stores’ overall satisfaction scores have tumbled far below the brick-and-mortar category average, with long wait times, lower customer trust in pharmacists and difficulty in ordering prescriptions identified as issues in the segment.
“The critical link that may allow brick-and-mortar pharmacies to keep pace with the rise of mail-order and digital pharmacies is the familiarity that customers have with their pharmacist,” noted Christopher Lis, managing director of global healthcare intelligence at Troy, Mich.-based consumer insights firm J.D. Power. “This is a big differentiator that brick-and-mortar pharmacies need to closely monitor, as 52% of customers are now aware of digital pharmacies, most notably, Amazon Pharmacy. Customers need pharmacies to deliver on convenience, reliability and trust — and mail-order and digital pharmacies are working to meet those expectations. As more consumers become aware of digital pharmacies, understand how they work and determine that many accept their insurance, brick-and-mortar stores risk losing market share.”
Key findings of the 2024 study are as follows:
Brick-and-mortar pharmacies are less popular than mail-order counterparts: Even the top-performing brick-and-mortar pharmacies saw their overall satisfaction scores fall more than 10 points this year, while satisfaction scores for mail order pharmacies have risen six points, on average. The drops in brick-and-mortar chain drug store satisfaction are due to a combination of long wait times and difficulty ordering prescriptions.
Retail pharmacists are great at communication, not so much at inspiring trust: 89% of customers said that an explanation given by their retail pharmacist was understandable – a significant positive uptick from 2023 – but only 51% said prescriptions were filled quickly, and just 51% described their pharmacist as trustworthy.
Online pharmacies must emphasize ease of use on digital channels: Easy ordering of prescriptions continues to be the top factor driving customer satisfaction with mail-order pharmacies, but just 18% of mail-order customers said that their pharmacy provides a well-designed digital experience – and indication that mail-order pharmacies should offer a digital experience that meets customers’ expectations.
Confusion over insurance remains a big obstacle for digital pharmacies: Almost half (48%) of brick-and-mortar customers said that they haven’t heard of digital pharmacies and only 60% of mail-order customers said that they’ve heard of digital pharmacies. The biggest barriers to adoption of digital pharmacies cited by customers were confusion as to whether they would accept their current insurance, trustworthiness and lack of use among people they know.
As for how businesses ranked in this year’s study, in the brick-and-mortar chain drug store category, Good Neighbor Pharmacy ranked highest for an eighth consecutive year, with a score of 775, with Health Mart (729) ranking second and Rite Aid Pharmacy ranking third (650).
Among brick-and-mortar mass merchandiser pharmacies, Sam’s Club ranked highest for the ninth straight year, with a score of 777, and Costco (740) came in second. Publix Super Markets ranked highest among brick-and-mortar supermarket pharmacies, with a score of 755, while ShopRite (747) came in second and H-E-B (745) was third.
In the mail-order segment, PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy ranked highest, with a score of 759, Amazon Pharmacy (727) ranked second, and Kaiser Permanente (726) ranked third.
The "U.S. Pharmacy Study," now in its 16th year, gauges customer satisfaction with brick-and-mortar and mail-order pharmacies. The 2024 study was based on responses from 13,505 pharmacy customers who filled a prescription within the past 12 months and was fielded from September 2023 through May 2024.
