Customers' Unmet Needs and Pains

Retail Pharmacy in Brazil Current Pains Analysis

The synthesis of the four analytical blocks (Final Customers Identification, Customer Challenges and Pains, Social Listening, and Current Demand Behavior) reveals a clear, consistent picture of the pains that Brazilian retail-pharmacy customers (predominantly B2C end-consumers, but also institutional and public-sector buyers) experience today. These pains stem from structural inefficiencies, economic pressure, operational gaps, and shifting consumer expectations across the pharmacy value chain.

1. Affordability Pressures
   • Prices of prescription and OTC medicines remain high for a large share of the population, despite CMED price ceilings and the Farmácia Popular subsidy.
   • Drivers: cumulative tax burden, cost inflation in production and logistics, weak purchasing power, and suspension of retailer discounts in periods of currency volatility.

2. Product Availability & Delivery Failures
   • Frequent stock-outs in stores and e-commerce channels; delayed or missed home deliveries.
   • Drivers: Brazil’s vast territory, inadequate infrastructure, complex “last-mile” logistics, and sub-optimal inventory management by pharmacies.

3. Limited Opening Hours & Poor Service Responsiveness
   • Social-listening data show >85 % of negative reviews cite “horário de funcionamento” and >60 % cite “entrega”; 31 % mention poor in-store or call-center service.
   • Drivers: staffing constraints, uneven adoption of 24 × 7 formats, and weak service-quality protocols.

4. Inconsistent Pharmaceutical Counseling & Health-Service Offering
   • Consumers value clinical guidance, vaccinations, screening tests, and medication therapy management, yet availability is patchy—especially in smaller independents.
   • Drivers: shortage of trained pharmacists, regulatory complexity, and investment requirements for consultation rooms and equipment.

5. Confidence in Product Integrity (Cold-Chain & Quality)
   • Patients using biologics, insulins, or vaccines express concern about temperature excursions during transport or storage.
   • Drivers: long transport distances, climate variation, and gaps in real-time temperature monitoring.

6. Difficulty in Disposing of Expired/Unused Medicines
   • Reverse-logistics programs exist in law but are not universally implemented; consumer awareness is low and return points are scarce.

7. Delayed Access to Innovation
   • New drugs take longer to reach shelves due to lengthy ANVISA registration and reimbursement processes, limiting treatment options for specific diseases.

8. Fragmented Omnichannel Experience
   • Although 78.9 % of shoppers alternate between online and physical channels, many still face clunky e-commerce platforms, poor WhatsApp ordering workflows, and lack of real-time inventory visibility.

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Unmet Needs and Pains

1. Affordable Access to Essential Medicines

Unmet need: A pricing model that cushions consumers against economic swings while preserving pharmacy margins.
Opportunity:
• Wider use of generic substitution and reference-price education.
• Data-driven dynamic promotion engines tied to loyalty programs.
• Expansion of Farmácia Popular and tiered discount schemes for chronic-disease patients.

2. Reliable, Fast, and Low-Cost Delivery & Stock Availability

Unmet need: “Order-and-receive” certainty—same-day or next-day delivery and assured shelf stock.
Opportunity:
• Regional micro-fulfilment centres and dark stores to shorten last-mile routes.
• AI-based demand-forecasting and inventory-replenishment solutions shared between distributors and retailers.
• 24-hour lockers and pick-up-points integrated with telemedicine platforms.

3. Seamless Omnichannel Journey

Unmet need: Consistent experience across app, WhatsApp, call-centre, and store, including digital prescriptions.
Opportunity:
• Single customer-ID and shared CRM across channels.
• Real-time stock exposure and click-and-collect within two hours.
• Integration of e-prescription uploads with insurance copay adjudication.

4. Extended Store Hours and High-Touch Service

Unmet need: Access to pharmacists and medicines outside standard business hours, plus courteous, well-informed service.
Opportunity:
• Shift-scheduling analytics to balance labour costs with demand peaks.
• Customer-service training academies and KPI-linked incentive programs.
• Chatbot triage for routine queries, freeing staff for clinical counseling.

5. Comprehensive In-Pharmacy Health Services

Unmet need: One-stop preventive-care hub offering vaccinations, chronic-disease monitoring, and personalized supplement advice.
Opportunity:
• Modular clinic rooms in high-traffic stores; mobile clinics for rural areas.
• Partnerships with diagnostics companies for point-of-care testing.
• Pharmacist upskilling in chronic-care coaching and telehealth.

6. Guaranteed Cold-Chain Integrity and Transparency

Unmet need: Proof that temperature-sensitive products remained within range “door-to-door.”
Opportunity:
• IoT sensors with QR-code-based consumer access to temperature logs.
• Blockchain traceability pilots for biologics, integrated with distributor systems.

7. Convenient, Green Disposal of Medicines

Unmet need: Simple return path for unused drugs to avoid environmental harm.
Opportunity:
• Nationwide take-back bins co-funded by brands and retailers.
• Gamified reward points for proper returns via loyalty apps.

8. Faster Availability of Innovative Therapies

Unmet need: Timely access to next-generation treatments, especially for rare or high-burden diseases.
Opportunity:
• Fast-track ANVISA pathways for breakthrough drugs and companion diagnostics.
• Risk-sharing agreements between manufacturers, payers, and pharmacy chains to accelerate launch.

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Key Findings

#	Pain / Unmet Need	Evidence Source(s)	Priority (H = High, M = Medium, L = Low)	Opportunity Snapshot
1	Affordability of medicines	Value-Chain analysis; Social-Listening (price cited by 88.9 %); Demand Behavior (price-led growth)	H	Tiered discounts, Farmácia Popular expansion, generics advocacy
2	Stock-outs & delivery delays	Value-Chain logistics notes; Social-Listening (60 % of negatives); 6.1 % unit-growth vs. ops strain	H	Micro-fulfilment, AI forecasting, last-mile partnerships
3	Limited store hours & service responsiveness	Social-Listening (85 % of negatives); Customer-Pains report	H	24 × 7 flagship stores, staffing analytics, chatbot support
4	Inconsistent clinical counseling & service mix	Customer-Pains; Social-Listening (humanized service trend)	M	Pharmacist upskilling, modular clinics, telehealth integration
5	Product integrity (cold-chain)	Customer-Pains; logistic challenges	M	IoT temp tracking, blockchain traceability
6	Proper disposal of medicines	Customer-Pains (reverse logistics)	M	Take-back programs, loyalty incentives
7	Fragmented omnichannel journey	Social-Listening (omnichannel a “requirement”); Demand Behavior (26.9 % WhatsApp orders)	M	Unified CRM, real-time inventory, e-Rx integration
8	Delayed access to new drugs	Customer-Pains (ANVISA bottleneck)	L	Fast-track approval, risk-sharing launch models

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References

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