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893                                        Tam & Adaviah (2022)
            During the MCO period, retail pharmacies experienced a short increase in revenue as a result of purchases of face masks, sanitizers, and
            medicines. However, the profit margin on these goods is quite low. There was a 30%-35 percent decline in revenue during the CMCO period
            owing to mobility limitations and less customer traffic. In the RMCO stage, the sales growth of retail pharmacies was slow, but overall, it
            was still down 15%-20% compared with the same period last year. The company anticipates growth in 2021, but the retail part of community
            pharmacy will remain tough due to low consumer confidence. Due to market conditions, independent pharmacies will find it more difficult
            to compete. For a month's supply, people used to buy one box (containing multiple strips) of medicine each time. They are now purchasing
            one strip at a time. To compete in the future pre-pandemic environment, Muhibbah Pharmacy decided to research and understand the needs
            of its customers to create and maintain higher levels of satisfaction. Their goal is to build loyalty and develop strategies to increase sales.

            1.2 COMPANY BACKGROUND

            Muhibbah Jaya Pharmacy SDN. BHD. is a community pharmacy addressed in No. 26&27, Persiaran Muhibbah Jaya 1, Taman Muhibbah
            Jaya 31100 Sungai Siput, Perak, Malaysia. The pharmacy business was started in 2017 October and founded by Madam Teoh Guat Leng
            and her partner Miss Siew See Wen, who will be the pharmacist of the pharmacy. Before having the partnership with Miss Siew, Madam
            Teoh was running an organic concept shop at that store location. Muhibbah Jaya Pharmacy is the only community pharmacy within 3 km of
            the community area. The mission of the pharmacy is “Bringing Wellness to Family & Friends”, meaning that they care for the customer and
            community's health. The pharmacy not only sells medicines, but also many other product lines such as personal care, health products, health
            equipment, organic food, beauty and lifestyle, and baby and children’s products. Other than that, it also provides other additional services
            such as hemoglobin A1c test, lipid profile test, total cholesterol test, uric acid test, haemoglobin test, pregnancy test, glucose test, blood
            pressure test and digital acupuncture service. The pharmacy provides free counseling services for their customers about the medical items or
            machines even if the product is not from the pharmacy. In addition, the pharmacy also has rehabilitation equipment ordering or leasing
            services, available items such as hospital bed, wheelchair, walking frame, crutches, blood pressure/blood glucose monitoring device. During
            pandemic Covid-19, the store also added the disinfection machine and disinfect the store twice per day. Back to history in July 2019, the
            pharmacy opened an online shop in Shopee platform. Through great operations along the journey, the pharmacy successfully expanded the
            business from one store to two stores in August 2020. During February 2021, the pharmacy joined the Panda Mart platform to further provide
            their product and delivery services among Sungai Siput area.

            1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

            This study listed two main research questions:

             i.   What is the satisfaction level of customers towards the pharmacy?
             ii.   Which factors have a positive and significant impact on customer satisfaction with pharmacy?

            1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

            This study listed two main objectives:

             i.   To identify the satisfaction level of customers towards the pharmacy.
             ii.   To examine which factors have a positive and significant impact on customer satisfaction with pharmacy.

            ■  2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

            2.1 RETAIL PHARMACY

            A retail pharmacy, as opposed to a hospital pharmacy, is one where pharmaceuticals are sold directly to patients. It is also  known as a
            community  pharmacy.  A  pharmacy  is  a  store  where  customers  may  buy  medicinal  medicines  and  other  items.  When  we  are  seeking
            pharmaceutical goods to prevent or treat diseases, one of the first places we think of is a pharmacy. Pharmacists are in charge of overseeing
            the  fulfilment  of  medical  prescriptions  and  providing  medical  advice  on  their  over-the-counter  medication  products  at  the  pharmacy.
            Pharmaceutical services have evolved significantly beyond simple medicine distribution to become more patient-centered (Barghouth et. al.,
            2021).

            2.2 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

            Customer satisfaction is crucial in business, because you can only conduct business if you have satisfied and loyal consumers. Minya, H
            (2011) states that if a single dissatisfied client might cost your company more money than ten very satisfied consumers. The more you focus
            on client retention and satisfaction, more and more long-term business you'll get. Focusing on customer satisfaction strategies is a good thing.
            It's a well-known fact that no matter how big or small your company is, referrals only come from "Apostles" clients. There are many ways
            to describe customer satisfaction, but the one that seems to get the most attention is that satisfaction is a post-selection evaluation of a single
            transaction. According to Fornell (1992), satisfaction can be regarded directly as an overall emotion. Customer satisfaction may be defined
            as a characteristic of a product or service, or the service itself, provide pleasing consumer-related satisfaction, including under- or over-
            satisfaction (Oliver, 1997).


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