June 23rd, 2022, Hoang Nguyen
The pharmacy landscape in the US has transformed out of necessity throughout the global health crisis. As we emerge from the pandemic, retail pharmacies continue to expand their critical role in order to meet consumer needs.
These challenges include the surge in prescription orders, the demand for pharmacies as one-stop shops for patient wellness and grocery shopping, and customer appetite for a greater range of e-commerce offerings.
To help retail pharmacy players understand and compete in the changing market, YouGov in partnership with StudioID has released a new report on how consumers rely on and interact with pharmacies. The free e-book details the transformation to the retail pharmacy industry and identifies the challenges and opportunities that are part of running a pharmacy practice that offers in-store and online services.
Let’s dive into a few key insights from YouGov's new retail pharmacy playbook with BioPharma.
Convenience, convenience, convenience
In-store shopping remains extremely important to consumers with 70% of all US adults saying they mostly visit a physical pharmacy location when they need to buy prescription medications.
Convenience is a strong factor in motivating this shopping behavior: 42% of all US adults go to the pharmacy that offers the most convenient location (e.g., one close to their place of work or home). Notably, prescription prices and familiarity with a retailer are also key considerations—albeit that they are much less important than location.
In-store pharmacy retail is especially crucial for two key consumer segments. Among consumers who shop in-person at retail pharmacies, adults between the ages of 18 to 34 are overrepresented when compared to their overall makeup in the US population (45% are aged 18-34 vs. 30% of all US adults; estimated market sizing of 81.2 million consumers).
By comparison, 8% of all US adults say they mostly use online services to get their prescriptions and one consumer group tends to rely on it more than others. Among those who use an online pharmacy, 26% are65 or older (26% vs. 20% of all US adults) and represent a potential market of 5.4 million US adults.
Despite not growing up with e-commerce offerings for the better part of their lives, older Americans have adopted online pharmacy retail to get the prescriptions they need quickly and safely.
Download the full report on how retail pharmacies can ensure they’re meeting the specific needs of each of these key consumer segments. The retail pharmacy playbook also provides insights into:
- The advertising channels retail pharmacy consumers notice most
- How pharmacies are transforming into one-stop shops for prescription refills, wellness centers and general retail
- How retail pharmacies can further customize their online services
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