DRUG STORES & PHARMACIES

Fast Facts
• Advertisers in the pharmacy category Top Outdoor Spenders
spent almost $6 million on outdoor
advertising in 2009. CVS Pharmacy
Duane Reade Drug Store
• 1.6 percent of all ad spending in the Walgreens Drug Stores
category was spent on outdoor.
Americare Medical Supply Store
• The top 10 outdoor spenders in Medicap Pharmacy
this category account for 34
Elan Pharmaceuticals
percent of all outdoor spending
on pharmacies. Kinney Drugs Store
Turns & Trends Beauty Supply
• Sales of drug stores
and pharmacies
Gilead Pharmaceutical Company
Hartig USA Drug Store
increased to $210.7 billion in 2009, a 3.4 percent gain over
2008 revenues of $203.8 billion.

• Approximately 92 percent of Americans live within five miles

of a community retail pharmacy, but the average distance to a
pharmacy is just under 1.6 miles.

• Of those adults who visited a drug store from one to five

times in the past month, 54.2 percent were women and 45.8 percent were men.

• Adults who visited a drug store from one to five times in the past month by
income bracket: $100,000+
(27.4%), $75-99,999 (14.5%),
$60-74,999 (11.1%), $50-59,999
(8.4%), $40-49,999 (8.8%),
NEWSPAPER RADIO
$30-39,999 (9.3%), $20-29,999
(8.9%), under $20,000 (11.7%). OUTDOOR

• Adults who visited a drug NETWORK TV

store from one to five times in
the past month by race: White MAGAZINES
(76.0%), Black (11.0%), Hispanic CABLE 
origin (13.1%), other (13.0%). TV
SPOT TV
SYNDICATION
• Adults who visited a drug Market share of pharmacy ad spending
store from one to five times
in the past month by marital status: single (24.4%), married (57.3%), separated/
widowed/divorced (18.3%).
• Approximately two-thirds of consumers between the ages of 18 and 75
purchased some form of dietary
supplement in the past six months.
Multivitamins are the most popular
supplement category (52%), followed
by specialty supplements (28%), one
and two letter vitamins (21%), calcium
(18%), herbs (11%), joint relief (10%), and
minerals (10%).

• The leading categories of over the

counter health care products sold
through drug stores are vitamins, cold/
allergy/sinus tablets, internal analgesics,
gastrointestinal tablets, and first aid
accessories.

• The top drug stores where consumers prefer to have prescriptions filled are
Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart, Rite Aid, and Target.

• The primary reasons for shopping at a particular store for prescription drugs
are location (64.5%), price (41.6%), insurance coverage (36.7%), and phone-in
convenience (32.7%).

• 72 percent of consumers who prefer to obtain their prescriptions at chain drug

stores say they are “very committed” to their drug store of choice. That figure
was lower than the percentages of shoppers who indicated they were “very
committed” to buying their prescriptions at warehouse clubs (88%), independent
drug stores (87%), discounters and supercenters (77%) and supermarket
pharmacies (76%).

• The primary reasons that consumers switched drug stores in the past year are
high prices, the lack of a $4 generic drug program, an inconvenient location, poor
customer service, and inconvenient hours.

Percentage change in ad spending in the pharmacy category

50.00% MAGAZINES
40.00%
OUTDOOR
%
30.00%
20.00%
10 00%
10.00%
CABLE TV
0.00%
NETWORK TV
‐10 00%
‐10.00%
‐20.00%
RADIO
SPOT TV
‐30.00%
SYNDICATION NEWSPAPER
‐40.00%
Percentage Change 2008‐2009

Sources: BIGresearch, Chain Drug Review, GfK MRI, Kantar Media,

US Department of Commerce

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