Chain Drug Store Closures Create Big Opportunities for Supermarkets, Mass Merchandisers and Online Pharmacies, J.D. Power Finds

July 29, 2025 at 08:00 AM EDT

Customer Satisfaction with Mail Order Pharmacies Surges as Chain Drug Store Customers Start Looking for Alternatives

As a steadily rising number of neighborhood drug stores close their doors, more customers are turning to mail order pharmacies, mass market merchandisers and supermarkets—and finding an improved customer experience along the way. According to the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Pharmacy Study,^SM released today, overall satisfaction with mail order pharmacies is rising steadily, with a 7-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.

“Chain drug store customers are significantly more likely than supermarket or mass market merchandiser pharmacy customers to say they ‘definitely will’ or ‘probably will’ switch pharmacies in the next 12 months,” said Christopher Lis, managing director of global healthcare intelligence at J.D. Power. “That openness to switching, combined with steadily increasing satisfaction scores at mail order pharmacies, helps set the stage for a tipping point in the pharmacy space.”

Following are some of the key findings of the 2025 study:

Chain drug stores fight headwinds, lose ground to mail order: 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.
Supermarkets and mass merchandisers deliver on key service metrics: Core areas of the pharmacy customer experience where supermarkets and mass market retailers are substantially outperforming chain drug stores include having sufficient staff, trust in pharmacist, ease of ordering prescriptions and prescriptions being filled quickly.
The digital tipping point: 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.
Digital pharmacies have work to do on consumer awareness: Although 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.

Study Rankings

Health Mart ranks highest among brick-and-mortar chain drug store pharmacies, with a score of 759. Good Neighbor Pharmacy (732) ranks second.

Sam’s Club ranks highest among brick-and-mortar mass merchandiser pharmacies for a 10^th consecutive year, with a score of 778. Costco (765) ranks second.

Wegmans ranks highest among brick-and-mortar supermarket pharmacies with a score of 764. Publix (760) ranks second and H-E-B (756) ranks third.

PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy ranks highest in the mail order segment for the second consecutive year, with a score of 745. Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy (740) ranks second and Amazon Pharmacy (734) ranks third.

See the rank chart for each segment at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2025080.

The U.S. Pharmacy Study, now in its 17th year, measures customer satisfaction with brick-and-mortar and mail order pharmacies. The 2025 study is based on responses from 14,700 pharmacy customers who filled a prescription within the past 12 months and was fielded from May 2024 through May 2025.

For more information about the U.S. Pharmacy Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/healthcare/pharmacy-study.

About J.D. Power

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services, and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 55 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.

J.D. Power has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company's business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto-shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.

About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules: www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250729793015/en/

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Media Relations Contacts

Geno Effler, J.D. Power; West Coast; 714-621-6224; media.relations@jdpa.com

John Roderick; East Coast; 631-584-2200; john@jroderick.com

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Chain Drug Store Closures Create Big Opportunities for Supermarkets, Mass Merchandisers and Online Pharmacies, J.D. Power Finds

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