Where do you go when you need pain relief medication? What is your initial thought?
An interesting survey conducted in 2014 by Roy Morgan Research found that 48% of Australian consumers used pharmacies as the most common point of purchase followed by supermarkets at 47%. Whilst the margin is negligible the results do indicate the importance of pharmacy to regular Australians and the position it holds within people’s day to day lives.
For those reading this outside Australia, you must realise that within Australian regulations pharmacies are not allowed to be owned by supermarkets nor are they allowed to be co-located with supermarkets. When considering the results presented above, use these points as context as to the significance of Australian community pharmacy.
The survey also showed that more than 10.5m Australians (approx. 55%) of the population purchase pain relief medication on average every 4 weeks.