Grocery pharmacies claimed the top two spots in the inaugural JD Power U.S. Pharmacy Digital Experience Study, with H-E-B ranking highest among brick-and-mortar pharmacies at 724 on a 1,000-point scale, followed by Publix at 713. Costco ranked third at 709.
The study, which measures customer satisfaction with pharmacy websites and mobile apps, underscores how much digital experience now drives pharmacy loyalty — a growing stake for supermarket operators, whose pharmacies anchor store trips and front-end sales. Among customers with low digital satisfaction scores of 500 or below, less than half say they will return to that pharmacy. For customers with scores over 801, more than 90 percent will return.
Digital now foundational
“The digital experience is no longer a secondary channel; it’s a foundational element of customer engagement and loyalty for pharmacies,” said Eric McCready, senior director of digital solutions at JD Power. “When customers experience a positive digital journey, their continued engagement is nearly assured. Conversely, a poor experience risks deterring more than half of them.”
Overall satisfaction with pharmacy digital channels averaged 677 for brick-and-mortar pharmacies and 707 for mail order. Customers who use pharmacy websites reported higher satisfaction than those using mobile apps. In the mail order segment, Kaiser Permanente ranked highest at 746, followed by Amazon Pharmacy at 741 and CVS Caremark at 720.
“Many pharmacies are still treating digital channels as add-ons rather than core business drivers,” said Meaghan Hafner, senior director of healthcare solutions at JD Power. “To compete effectively, pharmacies must prioritize features that matter most to their customers, whether that’s prescription management, medication reminders or seamless integration with in-store services. Those pharmacies that use digital to enhance the entire customer journey, not just transactions, will retain loyalty.”
The results extend a strong summer for grocery pharmacies in JD Power’s research: in the firm’s separate 2026 U.S. Pharmacy Study released in August, H-E-B also led the supermarket segment, with grocery pharmacies as a group outperforming the brick-and-mortar average.
The digital experience study measures satisfaction across four factors — design, performance, information and tools/capabilities — and is based on responses from 5,057 pharmacy customers who used a digital channel in the past six months.