The healthcare market in USA is a $3.5 trillion industry and the existing providers have been increasing their number of stores and the benefits offered in order to attract customers. With Amazon acquiring online pharmacy PillPack, the competition has got fierce.
We have analyzed the location of major pharmacy chains (CVS, Walgreens, Health Mart, Rite Aid) with the location of supermarket chains that have a pharmacy (Walmart, Costco, Publix, Winn-Dixie, Wegmans). The following chart shows the store count of pharmacies and supermarket-owned pharmacies, as of August 2019 –
The table below shows that even though there are more pharmacies compared to supermarket pharmacies, super market pharmacies score higher than pharmacies in terms of customer satisfaction.
Insights in brief
- Publix, Winn-Dixie, and Costco are the supermarket chains that have pharmacies in all its stores.
- Health Mart is the only pharmacy present in all states in the US.
- Walmart is the only supermarket pharmacy present in all states in the US.
- Florida (3,742) has the highest number of pharmacies and supermarket pharmacies.
- Alaska is the only state where there are more supermarket pharmacies (16) than pharmacies (7).
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Top Supermarket Pharmacy Locations
Supermarkets are a more convenient place to purchase prescriptions as people would prefer buying it in the same location where they get their weekly groceries. This has led to major grocers setting up pharmacies in their stores and becoming a one-stop-shop for customers.
Store Closure Report – Clinic and Pharmacy Closure in March 2020
Walmart vs Costco pharmacy locations
Above we compare Walmart (4,651) and Costco (541) stores which have a pharmacy.99.3% of Walmart stores have a pharmacy whereas, Costco has a pharmacy in all its stores.
Walmart pharmacies have a customer satisfaction of 837 whereas Costco pharmacies score higher with 879.
Publix vs Winn-Dixie vs Wegmans pharmacy location
Publix, Winn-Dixie, and Wegmans are concentrated in eastern US, the former two focus on southeast and the latter focuses on northeast.
Publix (1,222) and Winn-Dixie (504) have a pharmacy in each of their stores. 96% of Wegmans stores also have pharmacies.
Wegmans has only 96 stores with pharmacies but is ranked the highest in customer satisfaction (915). Both Publix and Winn-Dixie also have a good customer satisfaction score of 897 and 896 respectively.
The high percentage of pharmacies in grocery stores show that major grocers realized early the importance of offering healthcare products and have been slowly incorporating the option to purchase prescriptions from their stores.
Top Pharmacy Locations
Pharmacies have more stores across US compared to supermarkets. With supermarkets providing pharmacy in their stores, pharmacies too have had started selling groceries, which led to CVS becoming the 5th biggest grocery chain in US ahead of Publix and Target in 2017.
CVS vs Walgreens locations
CVS (9,732) and Walgreens (8,150) are 2 largest pharmacy chains in the US. While Walgreens follows CVS with respect to number of stores, it has a better customer satisfaction score of 840 compared to CVS (834).
In 2015, CVS acquired 1,713 Target pharmacies and rebranded them as CVS Pharmacy. CVS/Target pharmacies score higher (869) on customer satisfaction compared to CVS pharmacies (834).
Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, North and South Dakota are the only states without a Walgreens. While CVS has no stores in Idaho and Wyoming
Health Mart vs Rite Aid locations
Health Mart with 5,062 stores is the only pharmacy chain with a store in every state in the US.
Rite Aid currently has 3,179 stores and is concentrated along the East and West coast with barely any presence in Central America. In 2017, Walgreens purchased 1,932 Rite Aid stores and has rebranded them as Walgreens pharmacies. Health Mart ranks better (893) than Rite Aid (865) with respect to customer satisfaction.
Top 10 states with Pharmacies and Supermarket Pharmacies
- California has the highest number of pharmacies.
- Florida has the highest number of supermarket pharmacies.
Whats next for Healthcare and Grocery Industry?
As consumers become health-conscious, pharmacies are offering more than just prescriptions. Some pharmacies are turning into health destination centers, employing dietitians, nutritionists and offering organic food as well.
Walmart is increasing their foot print in healthcare by introducing Health Clinics, while Walgreens is employing “health guides” and partnering with Kroger, launching “Kroger Express” grocery sections. On the other hand,CVS is planning to turn 1,500 pharmacies into HealthHub locations by 2021 and is making moves to sell healthier foods.
