Sam’s Club ranks highest in pharmacy service in J.D. Power report

A new report from J.D. Power indicates consumers have their favorite retail pharmacies and do not often change pharmacies. Now in its 15th year, the U.S. pharmacy study gauges customer satisfaction with brick-and-mortar and mail-order pharmacies.

For the eighth consecutive year, Sam’s Club garnered the highest customer satisfaction ranking for pharmacy services among its retailer peers with a score of 788. At 755, Costco came in second, CVS inside Target ranked third at 698, and Walmart supercenter pharmacies ranked fourth with a score of 675, more than 100 points behind its sister company Sam’s Club.

In the supermarket category, the report found H-E-B ranked first in customer satisfaction for the third consecutive year with a score of 760. The top five grocery pharmacies also included Wegmans Food Markets (753), Publix (744) and Walmart Neighborhood Market (731). The smaller grocery format for Walmart scored more than 50 points higher than its supercenter pharmacies.

Good Neighbor Pharmacy ranked highest among brick-and-mortar chain drugstore pharmacies for the seventh straight year, scoring 793. Health Mart (770) came in second, and Rite Aid Pharmacy was third at 680. The survey found CVS was fourth with a score of 651, and Walgreens rounded out the top five at 643.

Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy ranked highest in the mail order segment, with a score of 748, Amazon-owned PillPack ranked second at 709, and Express Scripts Pharmacy came in third with a score of 699. My Humana Pharmacy was fourth with a score of 697 and Walmart mail services scored 675 for fifth place in this category.

While overall satisfaction in the mail-order pharmacy segment rose nine points this year, the survey found customer loyalty is decreasing. About 20% of mail-order customers said they “definitely will” or “probably will” switch pharmacies in the next 12 months, up from 14% last year. The top reasons for switching included employer insurance requiring a change (31%), medication being too expensive (24%), and a desire for flexible pickup options (21%).

“As pharmacies continue to take on a more significant role in healthcare delivery and ongoing care management, the pharmacist has become a critical link in the healthcare continuum,” said Christopher Lis, managing director of global healthcare intelligence at Troy, Mich.-based J.D. Power. “Customers are rewarding pharmacies that deliver personalized service, including interactions where communications occur on a first-name basis and when the pharmacist is available to answer questions.”

Despite the pharmacy’s evolution to an omnichannel hub of healthcare services and digital tools, personal interactions with staff are still vital to lasting customer satisfaction. The study found that brick-and-mortar pharmacies are delivering personalized service, leading to a six-point rise in overall customer satisfaction this year on a 1,000-point scale. Consumers using mail orders had a higher likelihood of switching providers despite their overall satisfaction with mail orders.

Other findings in the survey include overall satisfaction is 102 points higher among customers who said they know their pharmacist by name and 93 points higher among those who said they know pharmacy staff or technicians by name.

Overall, 83% of brick-and-mortar pharmacy customers expressed interest in receiving health and wellness services at their pharmacy. The most requested services are flu shots (50%), health screenings (46%) and COVID testing (42%), the survey said.

More consumers are also using digital technologies to interact with their brick-and-mortar pharmacies. Last year 76% of customers said they relied on digital technology to communicate with their pharmacies on refills and other services. This year that number rose to 81% of customers.