The oldest of Australians continue to embrace the most traditional chemist brand despite the diversity that a new wave of discount pharmacies has brought to the sector, a Roy Morgan survey of 15,000 people has revealed.
“Breaking down the satisfaction data by age, the group with the highest level of satisfaction with an individual pharmacy brand was the ‘pre-Baby Boomers’ (born before 1946), 96 per cent of whom were ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ satisfied with the long-established Soul Pattinson pharmacy chain,” the polling organisation said of the results, which were collected in the 12 months to October 2018.
Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine said the healthcare spend of older Australians – the Boomers and pre-Boomers – is typically much higher than younger generations.
“It is interesting, therefore, to see the different satisfaction levels with the same brands between those two older demographics,” she said.
The rating by older Australians was in stark contrast to the preferred pharmacy brand overall, Discount Drug Stores.
Ms Levine said Discount Drug Stores had kept the pressure on its competitors.
“(The chain has won) its eighth consecutive monthly customer satisfaction award, putting it in a very strong position for our Pharmacy of the Year award in February.
Australians generally are significantly satisfied with their chemists, with the lowest ranked brands – Chemist Warehouse, Guardian, MyChemist, Terry White Chemmart and Soul Pattinson – all scoring at least 88 per cent for total satisfaction.
But it was Discount Drug Stores’ 91.4 per cent rating that topped the ladder, with the chain’s customers reporting that they were very or fairly satisfied with their shopping experience.
The nearest competitor was Priceline Pharmacy, with a total satisfaction rating of 90.4 per cent, followed by Amcal/Amcal Max with an overall satisfaction rating of 90 per cent.
“There are many elements to customer satisfaction, but a good start is knowing who your customers are in each area and what they value when they walk into the store,” Ms Levine said.
Which pharmacy chain do you shop at? How satisfied are you with the customer experience offered at your chemist? Do you regularly change your loyalty to pharmacy brands? How could pharmacies improve their service?
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In my own experience, Chemist Warehouse has pharmacy students serving at the ‘dispensary counter’. I received incorrect information from the student, once was enough for me, I changed pharmacy. There was one pharmacist doing the dispensing & checking in the dispensary, that pharmacist was unavailable to answer my questions. The emphasis by pharmacies to advertise ‘cheap medicines or prescriptions’, says that the service in that pharmacy is based solely on the price of the prescribed medicines. That’s inadequate a service.