Pharmacy: Rx-cellent Service

Great customer service can be delivered on both sides of the pharmacy counter.

Independent grocers surpass national and regional chains in all areas of customer service when it comes to pharmacy operations, despite having the smallest average staff size in the department, according to the latest findings from New York-based ICC/Decision Services' (ICC/DS) STRONG study, which aims to put metrics around customer service demonstrated in various departments of the grocery store.

This segment of the study the second part in a series of six highlights the "Rx-cellence" portion of the benchmark program measuring the level of customer service in the pharmacy department as grocers seek to drive the acquisition and retention of a store's prescription customers.

Throughout 2013, more than 100,000 data points will be collected and analyzed among the nation's top national, regional, independent and specialty grocery chains, covering the various elements of the STRONG study: Suggestive selling, Technology, Rx-cellence, Outstanding customer service, Nutritional and Guide to social media.

Expectations of pharmacy customer service are no longer measured by a simple smile and the ability to answer questions. To stand out, the retailer and its pharmacy technicians must provide a higher level of customer service, as many customers trust their health to their stores' pharmacy technicians.

First Impressions Excellent pharmacy customer service always starts with shopper acknowledgement; for those shoppers waiting in line, being acknowledged by pharmacy associates can have the effect of shortening the perceived wait time. In this area, all retailers involved in the study fared well: Nine out of 10 ICC/DS field representatives were acknowledged while waiting in line. The acknowledgement included any form of greeting and acceptable phrases such as "I will be right with you" (Table 1).

The greeting generally sets the overall tone of an interaction. Similar to customer acknowledgement, when ICC/DS field reps reached the counter, they were greeted 90 percent of the time. A greeting by the pharmacy technician was measured as a verbal comment associated with a smile (Table 2).

After the initial acknowledgement and greeting phase, ICC/DS field representatives were then instructed to ask a pharmacy technician a question regarding a product in the department. During virtually every transaction (98 percent), the technician was able to appropriately answer the question.

However, not all pharmacy technicians emerged from behind the counter to assist a customer. According to the field reps, the pharmacy technician escorted the customer to a product every two out of three interactions (62 percent). Responses weren't included for item requests that were within the line of sight (Table 3).

Areas of Opportunity While the acknowledgement and greeting were highly scored portions of the pharmacy department interactions, there's still an area of opportunity here, as about 10 percent to 11 percent of customers weren't being greeted or acknowledged. When you consider that most shoppers visit the pharmacy for a health issue not usually a positive event in their lives a warm greeting can make a huge difference in their store experience.

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Pharmacy: Rx-cellent Service