Investigation of Consumer Choice of Community, Mail Order, or Internet Pharmacies

Abstract

Background: The 3 major options for purchase of medications by consumers are community pharmacy, mail order pharmacy, and Internet pharmacy. Certain consumer characteristics and motivating factors may be related to the type of pharmacy a person chooses to patronize. Objective: To describe and compare consumers who use Internet pharmacy versus those who choose community or mail order pharmacy and identify and compare the motivating factors for the use or lack of use of Internet versus community or mail order pharmacies. Methods: Two hundred seventy-eight residents of a major Midwest city were surveyed by mail questionnaire. A total of 91 responses were received, yielding a response rate of 32.7%. Descriptive statistics and Kendall's W coefficient of concordance were performed to analyze the respondents' answers. Results: Internet pharmacy patrons, compared with community pharmacy and mail order pharmacy patrons, were more likely to be male, younger, white, married, wealthier, and more educated. Respondents using Internet pharmacy listed quality and convenience as highly ranked factors in choosing a pharmacy, while respondents using community pharmacy listed quality and reliability and those using mail order pharmacy ranked reliability and convenience most highly. Conclusions: This study suggests that characteristics and motivating factors may differ for customers who choose Internet pharmacy instead of community or mail order pharmacy. As this study was exploratory in nature, additional studies are needed to draw more definitive conclusions.