Q&A: New Report Reveals Potential Shift from Brick-and-Mortar to Mail-Order Pharmacy

According to the JD Power 2025 US Pharmacy Study, customers report improved overall satisfaction and experience with mail-order services—laying the groundwork for a shift in where and how patients choose to fill prescriptions. In an email interview, Christopher Lis, senior director at JD Power, shared key insights about the report and what the pharmacy landscape currently looks like.

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Pharmacy Times: Can you walk us through the key takeaways from the 2025 US Pharmacy Study—especially the implications of rising mail-order satisfaction and declining satisfaction in chain drug stores?

Christopher Lis: In this year’s study, mass merchandiser and supermarket pharmacy customers show increasing year-over-year satisfaction levels, while chain drugstore customer satisfaction remains relatively stable. For brick-and-mortar overall, the most impactful key performance indicators (KPIs) are related to customer service and convenience, with a theme of consistent service and great personnel noted as leading reasons for switching pharmacies or cross-shopping, pointing to the people dimension as an area of opportunity for the brick-and-mortar segment. The 2025 Study shows the supermarket and mass merchandiser segments separating themselves from chain drugstores in these core areas by having sufficient staff, building trust through their pharmacists, making it easy to order prescriptions, and filling prescriptions quickly. Meanwhile, the mail-order pharmacy segment improves its overall satisfaction for a third consecutive year. Convenience continues to drive mail-order pharmacy customer satisfaction, with ease and speed of ordering prescriptions as the top two most impactful KPIs, respectively. As large chain drugstores such as CVS, Rite Aid Pharmacy, and Walgreens continue to close physical locations, a number of pharmacy customers are being forced to switch pharmacies. In doing so, some are turning to non-traditional, mail-order, and digital pharmacies, which, as a segment, experience the largest year-over-year gains in this year’s study. These pharmacies are seizing the opportunity to provide an increasingly satisfying pharmacy experience by capitalizing on their convenience, making it easy to order prescriptions, and delivering them in a quick and timely manner.

Pharmacy Times: Despite a slight 1-point uptick to a score of 643, chain drugstores continue to lag far behind other formats. What factors are most responsible for this, and what strategies might help reverse the trend?

Lis: Chain drugstores tend to lag other brick-and-mortar segments across the board, but perhaps the most pronounced pain point indicated in this year’s study is the chain drugstore segment’s ability to resolve customer problems and complaints. In this dimension, chain drugstores are 96 and 111 points behind the mass merchandisers and supermarkets, respectively. Chain drugstores can look to provide more accurate time estimates for prescription fulfillment, reducing the incidence of perceived customer problems and complaints. Overarching themes of customer service, convenience, and high costs of medications also tend to be differentiators for mass merchandisers and supermarkets compared to chain drugstores. KPIs, such as having sufficient staff, low cost of medication, making it easy to order prescriptions, and filling prescriptions quickly, all display large performance gaps for the chain drug store segment. It’s likely not helpful to simply recommend chain drug stores “hire more staff” and “lower costs,” as driving customer satisfaction is multidimensional. That said, potential recommendations would be for chain drugstores to pursue improving their overall digital experience—which represents an opportunity for improvement for brick-and-mortar pharmacies as a whole—especially when compared to other industries.

Pharmacy Times: Is there evidence that digital or mail-order services are "cannibalizing" brick-and-mortar traffic? What hybrid strategies could help bridge that gap?

Lis: The rise in digital and mail-order pharmacies has had a noticeable impact on the brick-and-mortar pharmacy landscape, as, over the years, we have seen an increase in market share for these newer channels of prescription drug delivery. For example, the entry of Amazon into the pharmacy space has certainly accelerated this trend, as Amazon has an extremely large customer base and a streamlined delivery network. Additionally, many digital and mail-order pharmacies not only offer home delivery but also 24/7 access and customer support, along with lower prices due to lower overhead costs.

Pharmacy Times: You mention a potential tipping point as customers show increasing openness to switching providers. What broader implications might this have for the pharmacy ecosystem?

Lis: The continued adoption of digital solutions will continue to increase, driven by many forces.

Pharmacy Times: Remote fulfillment and digital pharmacy interest increased (63% interested vs. 58% aware of Amazon Pharmacy). How do you foresee the role of digital and mail-order pharmacies evolving over the next 3–5 years?

Lis: Overall awareness of digital pharmacy brands has increased 7 percentage points year-over-year. Amazon Pharmacy, in particular, is contributing to these changes. With a major brand and disruptor like Amazon investing in the pharmacy space, chances are likely that the trend of increased awareness and increased interest in using a digital pharmacy will continue.