Choice concludes that Pharmacies are cheaper than supermarkets.
A new report published by consumer advocacy group CHOICE yesterday concluded that pharmacies equalled or beat supermarkets on price when comparing brand for brand and that, in the pharmacies they shopped 'we were often offered assistance' 'so it's worth asking for advice' as 'there may be better options than the specific medication you're considering'.
The CHOICE survey on which the report was based also found that pharmacies often sell cheaper brands than the name brands sold in supermarkets, more effective active ingredients, stronger doses, and a broader range of medicines for many conditions are available in pharmacies and that large discount-style pharmacies and online pharmacies tended to be cheaper than smaller pharmacies - no surprises there.
The Pharmacy Guild welcomed the report with Guild Executive Director David Quilty saying the report 'exposes the ideologically-driven claims that community pharmacy is not competitive'.
“It finds that pharmacies are clearly price competitive on name brands across all the categories (pain, sinus, cough, cold, reflux, hay fever etc.) and often also sell cheaper brands of their own. It demonstrates that it is an urban myth that consumers can save a few dollars in their health costs by shopping at the big supermarkets rather than at their local community pharmacies," said Mr Quilty.
“The take-out from this report is clear – community pharmacies are an altogether better option that supermarkets when it comes to purchasing open-seller, over-the-counter medicines. Unlike the self-serve supermarket model, consumers have ready access to professional health advice from trained medicine experts in pharmacies," he added.
Reproduced from Choice 9/7/15
