The Impact of Firm and Consumer Attributes on Retail Pharmacy Strategy

Abstract

Retail pharmacy have undergone substantial transformation over the past two decades. This is mostly brought on by internal and external stressors exacerbating competition within the retail pharmacy environment. With the rapid establishment and expansion of discount pharmacies, stricter legislations, complex consumer and market dynamics, community pharmacies are battling to survive in the pharmacy space they once dominated. The objectives of the study were to determine how retail pharmacy and consumers interact to establish and maintain a competitive advantage and how attributes of the marketing mix influence consumer behaviour in a retail pharmacy space. For a greater understanding of the relationships between the various variables and how they interact and influence pharmacy strategy, structured survey questionnaires were used to collect data on the attributes of retail pharmacies and consumers. Data from 344 respondents were evaluated for reliability and normalcy using IBM's Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 28), before being subjected to the appropriate inferential statistical analyses. The study results indicate that males and females react differently to the marketing mix, suggesting a preference for various strategies used by retail pharmacies to attract and retain consumers. The results further indicate that respondents with medical healthcare are more responsive to a particular marketing mix than respondents without, implying that retail pharmacies are incorporating these parameters in the development of their strategies. Lastly, the data confirms the association between certain marketing mix and retail pharmacy types. The research further indicates a strong correlation between the attributes of the marketing mix, however, the extent of this association varies between the attributes. The strongest correlation was identified between price and product, implying that pharmacy strategy prioritizes both factors. Additional findings points to a relationship between pharmacy and consumer attributes, the most evident of which being age and medical healthcare status. Price, promotion, and process are recognized as the key components of the marketing mix that pharmacies need to establish and retain a competitive advantage.