Rx-cellent Service

Great customer service can be delivered on both sides of the pharmacy counter.

Independent grocers surpass national and regional chains in all areas of customer service when it comes to pharmacy operations, despite having the smallest average staff size in the department, according to the latest findings from New York-based ICC/Decision Services' (ICC/DS) STRONG study, which aims to put metrics around customer service demonstrated in various departments of the grocery store.

This segment of the study — the second part in a series of six — highlights the "Rx-cellence" portion of the benchmark program measuring the level of customer service in the pharmacy department as grocers seek to drive the acquisition and retention of a store's prescription customers.

Throughout 2013, more than 100,000 data points will be collected and analyzed among the nation's top national, regional, independent and specialty grocery chains, covering the various elements of the STRONG study: Suggestive selling, Technology, Rx-cellence, Outstanding customer service, Nutritional and Guide to social media.

Expectations of pharmacy customer service are no longer measured by a simple smile and the ability to answer questions. To stand out, the retailer and its pharmacy technicians must provide a higher level of customer service, as many customers trust their health to their stores' pharmacy technicians.

First Impressions

Excellent pharmacy customer service always starts with shopper acknowledgement; for those shoppers waiting in line, being acknowledged by pharmacy associates can have the effect of shortening the perceived wait time. In this area, all retailers involved in the study fared well: Nine out of 10 ICC/ DS field representatives were acknowledged while waiting in line. The acknowledgement included any form of greeting and acceptable phrases such as "I will be right with you" (Table 1).

The greeting generally sets the overall tone of an interaction. Similar to customer acknowledgement, when ICC/DS field reps reached the counter, they were greeted 90 percent of the time. A greeting by the pharmacy technician was measured as a verbal comment associated with a smile (Table 2).

After the initial acknowledgement and greeting phase, ICC/DS field representatives were then instructed to ask a pharmacy technician a question regarding a product in the department. During virtually every transaction (98 percent), the technician was able to appropriately answer the question.

However, not all pharmacy technicians emerged from behind the counter to assist a customer. According to the field reps, the pharmacy technician escorted the customer to a product every two out of three interactions (62 percent). Responses weren't included for item requests that were within the line of sight (Table 3).

Areas of Opportunity

While the acknowledgement and greeting were highly scored portions of the pharmacy department interactions, there's still an area of opportunity here, as about 10 percent to 11 percent of customers weren't being greeted or acknowledged. When you consider that most shoppers visit the pharmacy for a health issue — not usually a positive event in their lives — a warm greeting can make a huge difference in their store experience.

Based on the responses from the field reps, escorting customers to their requested items isn't a standard practice of all retailers. However, incorporating this practice into the pharmacy SOP can create an "above and beyond" service experience for customers.

Independents Lead the Way

Of the retail groups studied — national chains, regional chains, independent and specialty grocers — independents showed the highest rate of customer service in all aspects of pharmacy interactions, including acknowledging customers in line, greeting them at the service counter, fielding questions and even escorting customers to products. (Specialty stores didn't compile any data for pharmacy interactions, as the operators included in this group didn't have pharmacies.)

As a group, the national grocery chains had the lowest rate of customer acknowledgement, but one individual national banner actually had the highest rate of customer acknowledgement (95 percent) of all of the chains — regional and national — visited. Similarly, while as a group, the regional chains had technicians who acknowledged customers in line 90 percent of the time, one individual regional banner had the lowest rate of acknowledgement, at 67 percent (Table 4).

National and regional stores were ranked similarly for greeting customers as they arrived at the pharmacy counter. One of the national banners scored a perfect greeting rate of 100 percent. As with the previous segment, it was a regional grocery banner that exhibited the lowest rate of greeting customers among all retailers visited, with a rate of only 69 percent. Not surprisingly, it was the same banner that scored lowest for customer acknowledgement (Table 5).

Overall, all types of grocers studied showed significant room for improvement when it comes to escorting customers to their requested items.

The rate of pharmacy technicians escorting customers to an item ranged greatly among regional stores, which as a group escorted customers to a product an average of 63 percent of the time. One regional banner had an escort rate of 76 percent, while two of the other regional banners visited escorted customers to their requested items only about half the time. Of the national grocery chains, the banner that ranked the highest for acknowledging and greeting customers scored the lowest when it came to escorting customers to products, with a rate of only 50 percent (Table 6).

Staff Size Doesn't Equal Service

Along with noting the performance level of customer service in the pharmacy department, ICC/DS also had its field representatives note how many associates were working in the pharmacy department on the date of the evaluations (including technicians, pharmacists or any other uniformed associates).

Interestingly, independent grocers still managed to outscore national and regional stores in customer acknowledgement, customer greeting and escorting them to items, despite having the lowest average pharmacy staff count of 2.2 people. Regional stores averaged 2.8 pharmacy associates per store, with national chains close behind, at 2.6.

Recommendations

Based on the results of its research, ICC/DS noted that improving upon customer service delivery will help ensure that grocery pharmacies retain, and add to, their customer base. It recommends as a first step to have a documented training program in place that includes service-oriented practices — such as greeting customers and escorting them to products — shared with not only new store/department associates, but repeatedly reviewed with existing associates as well.

Following the implementation of the training program should be an ongoing measurement of the execution of these behaviors. A great brand is consistent and repetitive, meaning that customers should receive the same level of service at every store within a banner, every time they shop.

Following these recommendations, the pharmacy department can become a strong driver of loyalty, not just for the department, but also for the entire store.

Eric Baer is a research analyst at ICC/Decision Services. He can be reached at [email protected].