Objective. To study consumer preferences for choosing pharmacy across individual neighborhood metropolis.
Materials and methods. A questionnaire survey of 439 visitors pharmacies in particular Odessa neighborhood.
Results and discussion. It was found that about a third of respondents buy drugs at the pharmacy which is the nearest to their residence place or at one and the same pharmacy. Almost two-fifths of respondents turn to the pharmacy as needed. Over half of the respondents consider a proper location, affordable price and a wide range of drugs in the pharmacy to be the main choice factors.
Half of the respondents make a decision to purchase a particular drug before visiting the pharmacy, and four-fifths — depending on the circumstances. Almost half of the visitors pointed to the lack of queues. Only 2.3% said that they have not faced with the lack of necessary medicines at the pharmacy. Two thirds of visitors indicated that the price of drugs has significantly increased.
The same number of respondents considered culture of service to be the main personal quality. Notably, age, gender and working experience do not define personal qualities of pharmacists. When the pharmacist suggests several options required drugs without prescription, two-thirds of the respondents choose known drugs tested by them or their relatives or friends.
The reasons for refusal of re-visiting some pharmacies almost half of the respondents consider high prices and unskilled staff.
An average level of service in pharmacies was evaluated as 3.9. There were offered 7 propositions and 6 additional services to improve working quality, such as: increase of goodwill, availability of a consulting physician, home delivery of drugs and ordering by phone.
Conclusions. According to the results of a questionnaire survey of 439 visitors pharmacies neighborhood of Odessa the peculiarities of consumer preferences for farmacies were established that will be the basis for working out the appropriate rules for pharmacies.