Customer satisfaction rising for mail order pharmacies

As more and more neighborhood drug stores close their doors, customers are increasingly turning to mail order pharmacies, mass market merchandisers and supermarkets, and are preferring the customer experience, according to the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Pharmacy Study.

Overall satisfaction with mail order pharmacies is rising steadily, with a seven point increase (on a 1,000-point scale) in overall customer satisfaction this year. 

Meanwhile, chain drug stores have seen their overall satisfaction scores slide far below those of other brick-and-mortar pharmacies, such as those found in mass market retailers and supermarkets, pushing many chain drug store customers to consider switching providers.

WHAT’S THE IMPACT

The average overall satisfaction score for chain drug stores is 643, which is up one point from the 2024 study.

Despite the incremental improvement, satisfaction scores for chain drug stores are 54 points lower than the average satisfaction score for mail order pharmacies (697), 63 points lower than mass market merchandisers (706) and 72 points lower than supermarkets (715). Mail order pharmacies show the largest year-over-year gains in satisfaction, rising seven points to 697 in 2025.

The study found that supermarkets and mass market retailers outperform chain drug stores in core areas of customer experience, including having sufficient staff, trust in the pharmacist, ease of ordering prescriptions and prescriptions being filled quickly.

The leading drivers of mail order pharmacy customer satisfaction scores are digital channels – including website, mobile app and text – and helping customers save time and money. The majority (63%) of mail order pharmacy customers say they are either “very interested” or “somewhat interested” in using a digital pharmacy to fill their prescriptions – a five-percentage-point increase from 2024.

But while interest in digital pharmacies is growing, 33% of pharmacy customers are still not aware of any digital pharmacy brands. Among the 67% of customers who are aware, the majority (58%) are aware of Amazon Pharmacy. Other providers in the space have significantly lower levels of brand recognition.

THE LARGER TREND

On a 1,000-point scale, Health Mart ranked the highest among brick-and-mortar chain drug store pharmacies, with a score of 759. Sam’s Club ranked highest among brick-and-mortar mass merchandiser pharmacies for a 10th consecutive year, with a score of 778, while Wegmans ranked highest among brick-and-mortar supermarket pharmacies with a score of 764.

PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy ranks highest in the mail order segment for the second consecutive year, with a score of 745.