Impact of Non-Financial Extrinsic Factors on Performance of Retail Pharmacies in Karachi

Abstract

Retail pharmacy is the store where health products and medicines are sold over the counter and on doctor’s prescription. Retail pharmacies are the first point of contact between patients and healthcare industry. Around 45000-50000 retail pharmacies are present in Pakistan.The quality of pharmacies can be seen in terms of the quality of personnel, premises and the process through which the drugs are being given to the patients. Performance of retail pharmacy depends on many intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Objective of this research study is to examine the impact of non-financial extrinsic factors on the performance of retail pharmacies in Karachi. Close ended questionnaire was established with 5 point Likert scale. Questionnaire was filled by 70 retail pharmacies from 5 zones of Karachi. Data was analyzed with the help of SPSS. Paper examines the effects of Location, size, physical environment, inventory management, number of doctors in the area and number of other pharmacies on the dependent variable (Number of customers). On the basis of the survey conducted, it was concluded that location and number of other pharmacies located in the same area are not the significant variables that affect the performance where as physical environment, size, inventory management and number of doctor in the area are positively correlated with the performance of store. On the basis of the results, Non-financial extrinsic factors played an important role in retail pharmacies performance. Store owners should consider these factors in order to improve their store’s performance and while establishing new pharmacy. There are various other factors that can affect the performance of retail pharmacy, and that can be considered for future research.