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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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