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Which pharmacy's customers most likely switch to Amazon?
Started by CARph
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All this says from the "informal survey" is that people are potentially willing to switch to a different service, which...duh? Retailer customer loyalty hasn't been a thing in the USA for decades. The questions remains if Amazon can provide the same or better level of service for the average pharmacy customer's needs. Right now, that answer is still no.
Despite lack of evidence that this survey data is any good, I do think the Walmart portion of it is mildly interesting.
Despite lack of evidence that this survey data is any good, I do think the Walmart portion of it is mildly interesting.
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I want to see them ship 90 day supplies of insulin, enbrel, humira, Or, just one doses of neulasta, betaseron, or copaxone. Plus I not even getting to all the new HepC drugs that you could buy a car with. I know to many customers that complain if the box ain't in perfect shape or if it "feels" warm. Can't wait to see them navigate the 800 customer rep number to try to get them to fix their problem plus I don't think PillPack has a PMB so their reimbursements are going to be ugly. I get busted up totes from every wholesaler I've done business with and the return process is always paperwork and computerwork crazy so I don't know what kind of people would deal with these type of problem unless they are getting it for free or just have lots of time on their hands. I don't think Amazon is going to start taking back return on high value items or they just won't dispense them which leaves a market for brick and mortar. Personally, I think they should try to lock down long term care facilities with the capabilities they currently have, get a PBM, and then tackle the rest of the industry. I mean they bought a handful of grocery stores and are having problems selling fruits and vegetables and now you think your ready for life saving medications. Man, what board meeting was this and boy would I like to look at those projections that they sold them on.
I already use them for groceries w/ Amazon Fresh. Always get items properly stored at proper temperatures.
Nobody likes mail-order, probably 99% of people who use it, do so only because they are forced to by their insurance. I love Amazon and buy tons and tons from them, but I would never (willingly) get my medicine via mail-order, from anyone. To many horror stories of late deliveries, person mailed the wrong thing, etc. And unlike all the crap I buy from Amazon, where I will live if it comes late or if I have to send something back and reorder....I might not live if I didn't get my medicine. And it's not as easy as, if I don't get my special mouthwash from Amazon that no place in town sells, I can still run out and get some generic mouthwash to tide me through. Not so easy to do with medications, I would have to get another prescription, and then most likely pay cash because my insurance would have been billed. What a nightmare, there isn't much I won't buy from Amazon, but prescription medicines will not be one of them.
Sparda...you are in NYC right? I think Amazon Fresh has a 2 hour delivery service there and among other cities as well. They can compete in these locations.
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Think of all the young people who there who just use pharmacy for birth control, ADHD, Asthma etc. They take one medication on a regular basis. They would be perfect customers for Amazon, they are also the most profitable customers as well. Mrs. Johnson who is 81, has 15 medications. Only does refills by phone, forgots to pickup refills but when she does show up, she wants all 15 at once is not a good customer for Amazon. Ultimately demographics is destiny.
Asthma might be a stretch if they desperately need a rescue inhaler but I see where your going and agree they would be perfect amazon customers. Unfortunately these aren’t really “pillpack” customers but I’m sure that won’t stop them. What Amazon has that other mail orders don’t have is route density. You start consolidating costs when you ship more things in one package or one route. Where they may lose from going more “outside the box” (pun intended) they may stand to gain with their strong existing route density of a lot of packages going pretty much everywhere already.
Birth control has TERRIBLE reimbursement rates. In many cases the reimbursement is negative .
Even more perfect for amazon. They are known for not caring about profitability.
The point is that Amazon will target the young, simple cases, high profits. Whereas the old guy that spend 15 minutes telling me about his bowel movements will keep going to CVS.
I’m curious, too. Maybe a red/blue divide? Or something else?
Hard to draw comparisons without knowing the denominator for each category. If most respondents selected that they dont use a pharmacy, and only a few selected that they use one of the pharmacies listed, the sample sizes for each pharmacy may be too small to make a meaningful comparison and tell if the differences are real (i.e. low power).
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Walmart's average customer is about 15 years older (50s) than the average Target shopper. Walmart customers, on average, are also lower income. Furthermore, you can go to Walmart and purchase a greater variety of item types vs Kroger or Target. For people who are 1) lower income 2) have to work multiple jobs and have less time 3) are older and are marketed to more by Walmart, the switch makes less sense. By and large advertising from Target and Amazon is targeted more to young professionals in their 20s and 30s.
