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Health Mart, Target score highest in satisfaction survey

10/5/2009

NEW YORK The nation’s fastest-growing drug store franchise and the No. 2 discount chain ranked tops for pharmacy service among the drug store, mass merchandise and supermarket pharmacy categories, said the newest customer satisfaction poll from J.D. Power and Associates.

The survey results, released in mid-September, highlighted the value consumers place on personalized, face-to-face patient care by pharmacists. That much is clear from the drug store rankings: customers polled by J.D. Power gave their highest marks for service to two pharmacy franchises composed of independent drug store owners.

Health Mart, the nation’s largest and fastest-growing pharmacy franchise, rated highest among drug store retailers in the nationwide poll, with a score of 864 points on a scale of 1,000. The nation’s other major pharmacy franchise operation, The Medicine Shoppe, ranked second in overall customer satisfaction with a score of 857.

By comparison, drug store chains compiled an average satisfaction score of 798, according to the poll.

Target ranked highest among mass merchandisers for a third consecutive year with a score of 831 out of 1,000, J.D. Power reported. Costco, with a score of 818, and Sam’s Club, with 813, followed Target in the rankings.

Meanwhile, in the supermarket segment, Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans scored highest, with a satisfaction ranking of 865. Close behind was Jacksonville, Fla.-based Winn-Dixie, which rated a score of 860, while Publix Super Markets, based in Lakeland, Fla., was third with 855 points.

The 2009 National Pharmacy Study was based on an online survey of 12,215 customers who filled a new or refilled prescription during the late winter and spring of this year. Consumers were asked to rank local pharmacies based on a variety of factors, including professional and nonpharmacist staff, store convenience, medication availability and information, store layout and design, cost competitiveness and remote ordering convenience.

Among the survey’s other key findings: Customers with higher satisfaction scores are financially beneficial to their pharmacies through increased rates of loyalty and advocacy, and higher revenue per visit. To wit: Highly satisfied customers who give their pharmacy a satisfaction score of 901 or higher are three times more likely to say they “definitely will” return to their pharmacy, according to pollsters, and are at least seven times more likely to say they “definitely will” recommend their pharmacy, compared with customers with low satisfaction scores of 550 or lower.

“Pharmacies have an opportunity to grow their business and better position themselves for the future by improving satisfaction levels among their customers,” said Jim Dougherty, executive director of the healthcare practice at J.D. Power. “For example, a highly satisfied brick-and-mortar customer generates $30 more in pharmacy revenue per visit than a customer with low satisfaction, on average. For a pharmacy with 1,000 customers each month, this translates into an additional $360,000 in revenue annually.”

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