H-E-B Tops J.D. Power Pharmacy Rankings

Texas retailer H-E-B has ranked highest among brick-and-mortar supermarket pharmacies, with a score of 896, according to the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Pharmacy Study. Wegmans Food Markets, previously top ranked for three consecutive years, came in second, with a score of 892, and Ahold Delhaize USA banner Stop & Shop was third, with a score of 885.

Among mass-merchandiser pharmacies, Sam’s Club received the highest score (891) for the sixth straight year, while CVS/pharmacy inside Target ranked second, with a score of 879, and Costco came in third, with a score of 877.

Good Neighbor Pharmacy earned the highest score, 912, among brick-and-mortar chain drug store pharmacies for the fifth consecutive year, with Health Mart second, at 891, and Rite Aid Pharmacy third, at 866. In the mail-order segment, Humana Pharmacy ranked highest for the fourth year in a row, with a score of 906, while Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy came in second, with a score of 887, and Aetna Rx Home Delivery was in third place, with a score of 884.

The study also found that more than half — 51% — of retail pharmacy customers have used health-and-wellness services during the past year, up from 48% in 2020 and 43% in 2019. According to J.D. Power, overall satisfaction, net promoter scores (NPS) and average customer spend all increased significantly when pharmacy customers made use of health-and-wellness services, with overall satisfaction scores climbing 24 points (on a 1,000-point scale) and NPS growing by 10 points, while customers who used at least one health-and-wellness-oriented service provided by their retail pharmacy each spent an average of $5 more than those who didn’t use these services, $28 versus $23, respectively.

“It was not long ago that the major pharmacy chains, health care providers, health plans and consumers were all asking themselves whether or not people would ever feel comfortable receiving treatment in a retail setting,” noted James Beem, managing director of health care intelligence at Troy, Mich.-based J.D. Power, a global provider of consumer insights, advisory services, and data and analytics. “While we have been seeing consumer satisfaction with retail health services grow steadily, this year marks a significant turning point in which most customers are now using these services. The fact that this happened during a pandemic should send a clear signal that retail pharmacies are transforming health-and-wellness services in America.”

Some of the key findings of the 2021 study:

• The most frequently used health care services provided by retail pharmacies were vaccinations and routine screenings.
• As retail pharmacies started to take on a larger role in their customers’ lives, mobile app use increased, with 26% of brick-and-mortar customers and 27% of mail order customers accessing their pharmacy’s mobile app. Overall satisfaction with brick-and-mortar mobile apps received a score of 848, and overall satisfaction with mail order mobile apps earned a score of 868.

The U.S. Pharmacy Study, now in its 13th year, gauges customer satisfaction with brick-and-mortar and mail-order pharmacies. The 2021 study is based on responses from 12,646 pharmacy customers who filled a prescription during the three months before the survey period of September 2020 through May 2021.

With approximately 400 stores in Texas and Mexico, San Antonio-based H-E-B is No. 13 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco; Minneapolis-based Target; Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health; Bentonville, Ark.-based Sam’s Club; Ahold Delhaize USA, parent company of Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop; Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid; and Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans; are Nos. 4, 6, 7,  9, 10, 19, 35, respectively, on PG’s list.