FMI reports supermarket pharmacy business is thriving

ARLINGTON, Va. A new report from the Food Marketing Institute shows the supermarket pharmacy business to be healthy, and growing in services and tie-in opportunities, according to Supermarket News.

Among other findings, “Supermarket Pharmacy Trends 2008” reports that key areas are up significantly from 2002 to 2007, including average number of prescriptions filled per day, median percentage of prescription sales from generic drugs, average percentage of prescription sales to total store sales, and median of the gross margin for the pharmacy department.

Additionally, the study said 92.7 percent of supermarket pharmacies will be ready for e-prescribing by the end of the year, while nearly half offer Medication Therapy Management in either all or some stores, with another third planning to implement it over the next year.

Randy Heiser, vice president, pharmacy, Giant Eagle, Pittsburgh and former chairman of FMI’s pharmacy service committee said the report “shows that pharmacy in the grocery industry is healthy and continuing to show uptrends in sales, while also showing some improvements in efficiencies.”