Pharmacy staff can impact retail pharmacy experience

The courteousness, availability, and concern exhibited by the pharmacy staff can have a major impact on overall customer satisfaction with the retail pharmacy experience, according to the recent J. D. Power and Associates "2007 Retail Pharmacy Customer Satisfaction Study." The study found that among brick-and-mortar pharmacies, there is a very positive impact on overall satisfaction when a pharmacy staffer asks whether the customer would like to speak to the pharmacist. The survey was based on responses from 6,543 consumers who filled a new Rx or refilled an Rx in the three months prior to the survey. The survey was conducted on-line in October and November 2006. For more information, visit www.JDPower.com.

Medicine Shoppe pharmacies led the retail chain segment, receiving the highest ratings in all factors driving customer satisfaction. CVS and Walgreens tied for second place. Publix ranked highest in the supermarket segment, followed by Wegman's and Safeway. CVS/Caremark Corp.'s mail-order and retail pharmacy businesses ranked highly in the study. The study was conducted prior to the closing of the CVS/Caremark merger; therefore the results for Caremark Rx, PharmaCare, and CVS are reported separately. Caremark Rx ranked highest overall in the mail-order segment, trailed by PharmaCare.

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