Patient Views: The doctor’s visit on the path to pharmacy
Over the past two years, AccentHealth has partnered with Drug Store News to poll patients in physician’s office waiting rooms regarding their attitudes and preferences when managing their health, as well as ways in which they utilize pharmacies as a health resource. In this issue, we explore the profile of health-seeking drug store shoppers, their pharmacy purchase behavior and the best times to reach this valuable audience with promotional messages.
Results from a recent AccentHealth Consumer Connections™ study show that the physician office visit is a critical step on the drug store shoppers’ path to purchase. Three-quarters of consumers who visited their physician report shopping directly following their visit that day, and for the majority of study respondents (62%), their shopping destination is the pharmacy. The pharmacy visit itself is often sparked by a prescription from their physician, with 95% of prescription fillers reporting they go to the pharmacy on the same day of their visit. Chain pharmacies and mass merchandisers are among the most commonly shopped classes of trade among consumers surveyed, and store location/convenience remains a key driver for their pharmacy selection — similar to the general population.
In contrast to the general population, respondents under a physician’s care demonstrate themselves to be “drug store super shoppers” — visiting pharmacies more frequently (up 47%), filling more prescriptions (up 48%) and spending more overall in-store during a store visit (up 39%) than the average consumer.* As might be expected, this behavior is attributed to the profile of the physician office visitor, which includes:
“Wellness Seekers” who are proactive about their health, visiting their doctor regularly for check-ups and looking for new ways to live a healthier lifestyle;
“Aging Americans” looking to prevent those medical conditions related to aging and treat both chronic and acute conditions suffered; and
“Episodic Sufferers” seeking treatment with prescription or over-the-counter medications for an acute condition.
In-store spending is fueled by both a heightened number of prescription fills among physician office visitors, as well as the tendency of these consumers to shop across the store. All shoppers surveyed indicate that they purchase one or more non-prescription items while at the drug store. Seven-in-ten consumers under a physician’s care report purchasing over-the-counter medications (including vitamins) during an average trip to the pharmacy. Six-in-ten typically purchase personal hygiene products during an average visit, which increases to 7-in-10 when looking across all health and beauty categories.
This dynamic in shopper behavior supports the evolving strategies among drug store retailers, mass merchandisers and grocery stores alike. Retailers outside of chain pharmacies are increasingly offering products and services typically found at drug stores in an effort to capitalize on the growing pharmacy marketplace and strengthen their own models for “one-stop shopping.” Consumers who indicate a mass merchandiser as their primary pharmacy report spending nearly 30% more on prescription and health-related products during an average pharmacy visit compared to shoppers of retail pharmacy chains — taking advantage of store selection and convenience. Conversely, pharmacy chains have begun offering a deeper selection of products, including household items, food and beverages and more, in an effort to compete with more recent market entrants and combat share erosion. Interestingly, while shoppers spend more at mass merchandisers, study findings show that retail pharmacy consumers make more pharmacy visits each year (22 trips annually vs. 15 trips among pharmacy shoppers at mass merchandisers).
Study results further indicate that increased drug store spending among physician office visitors is driven by sufferers of chronic conditions. Many of these shoppers are adults ages 50-plus and represent a key customer group for drug store retailers given the expected rise in older adults in the United States over the next several years. This increase in the aging population also is expected to grow consumer visits to their physicians, with a recent article in the Annals of Family Medicine projecting patient-doctor office visits will rise 22% to 565 million annually by 2025. The growing need to reach a targeted audience of drug store shoppers has led to a rise in the importance of the point of care, or POC, communication channel, delivering a captive audience of health and wellness seekers.
Point of care communications is defined by the Point of Care Communication Council, or PoC3, as “sponsored health and wellness education and marketing communications provided in venues where consumers receive medical care, including physicians’ offices, hospitals and pharmacies.” Research from ZS Associates estimates that POC spending has grown approximately 10% annually since 2010. This growth is fueled primarily by spending from pharmaceutical advertisers but increasingly by pharmacy, over-the-counter remedy and health plan advertisers seeking to reach a targeted health-minded audience. POC marketing’s reach is second only to television, with Kantar Media reporting that nearly half (44%) of U.S. adults have seen or heard healthcare marketing at a doctor’s office or pharmacy in the last 12 months, including waiting room patient education television, pharmacy-based prescription adherence programs and more.
Promotion at the point of care is embraced by consumers — in part — due to their health-focused mindset and the proximity of a prescription fill/pharmacy purchase to their physician office visit that day. Looking specifically at physician’s office visitors, 73% report they look for ways to live a healthier lifestyle — a significantly higher percentage than the general population at 61% (Index 120). Sixty-three percent of shoppers surveyed view their pharmacy as a health and wellness destination compared to 53% of the general population (Index 119). This audience reports higher than average receptivity to messaging and promotions placed at the point of care — including those from pharmacy marketers. Nearly half indicate that pharmacy advertising in their physician’s office is useful (Index 139), and nearly one-third indicate that pharmacy advertising can influence their selection of a pharmacy (Index 140).
Consumers under the care of a physician also are open to the notion of pharmacy switching despite high levels of satisfaction with their primary pharmacy. Nine-in-ten consumers report being satisfied with and would recommend their primary pharmacy — a standard sign of retailer loyalty. However, one-third of consumers surveyed report they would consider switching pharmacies (Index 155). Similarly, one-third indicate they currently use more than one pharmacy to fill prescriptions (Index 131), citing store location/convenience (62%) and price (55%) as the primary reasons for multiple pharmacy use. Displaying a greater propensity for switching and greater likelihood to shop at multiple pharmacies, consumers at the point of care represent a key retail conversion opportunity for pharmacy marketers. Having established that pharmacy marketers are able to reach a valuable and approachable audience in the physician’s office setting, the next question is natural: Does POC marketing work?
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