Customer satisfaction across the pharmacy sector is splitting sharply, with mail-order services rising while traditional retail pharmacies struggle to retain consumer confidence.
The findings come from the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Pharmacy Study, which tracked the experiences of more than 14,000 pharmacy customers across the United States.
Mail-order pharmacy satisfaction climbed two points from 2025 to reach 699 on a 1,000-point scale, driven by improvements in live-agent support and digital service tools.
Brick-and-mortar pharmacies moved in the opposite direction, dropping seven points year over year to a satisfaction score of 669, reflecting a meaningful erosion of consumer trust.
“In today’s pharmacy environment, the direct human interaction and effortless convenience are non-negotiable when it comes to customer satisfaction,” said Meaghan Hafner, senior director of Healthcare Solutions at JD Power.
Hafner added that “customers continue to place tremendous value on access to pharmacists and knowledgeable staff, even as pharmacy experiences become more digital.”
She noted that “the strongest customer experiences occur when digital convenience is paired with meaningful human support,” a pattern clearly visible in the mail-order segment’s performance.
Among brick-and-mortar chain drug stores, Good Neighbor Pharmacy ranked highest with a score of 748, narrowly outperforming Health Mart at 747, while CVS Pharmacy scored 653.
Sam’s Club claimed the top spot in the mass merchandiser segment for the eleventh consecutive year with a score of 786, a remarkable streak of sustained customer satisfaction performance.
H-E-B led the supermarket pharmacy segment with a score of 773, followed by Wegmans at 749 and Publix at 741, with grocery pharmacies continuing to outperform the broader brick-and-mortar average.
Amazon Pharmacy earned the highest ranking in the mail-order segment with a score of 745, ahead of Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy at 733 and Walmart Pharmacy Mail Services at 714.
The study also highlights a growing vulnerability within the mail-order segment, warning that a declining ability to effectively resolve customer problems poses a significant risk to continued growth.
Physical retail pharmacies, meanwhile, face what the study describes as an urgent need to rebuild trust and demonstrate clear value, even as their digital offerings show some promise.
The 2026 study is now in its eighteenth year and is based on responses from 14,144 customers who filled a prescription within the past 12 months, with fieldwork conducted from May 2025 through May 2026.