Customer Acquisition and Retention and Its Effect on Profitability of Community Pharmacies in The Eastern Region of Ghana

The study examined the relationship between customer acquisition and retention and their effects on the profitability of community pharmacies in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Quantitative methods based on both descriptive and inferential analysis were employed in the study. The study used a cross-sectional explanatory research design. The target population for this study comprises all employees and key stakeholders affiliated with community pharmacies operating in the Eastern Region of Ghana. A structured questionnaire was administered to collect the study data. The simple random sampling technique was adopted to recruit a sample size of 180 participants. SPSS v26 and SmartPLS v4 were used to evaluate the study hypotheses. The findings showed that service quality positively and significantly affects customer loyalty and retention in community pharmacies. Also, customer acquisition and retention positively affected the community pharmacies' profitability. Based on the findings, community pharmacies should gather, retain, and analyze customer data using current technology and software systems to get insights into preferences, behaviours, and requirements. KEYWORDS: Customer acquisition, Customer retention, Profitability, Community Pharmacy, Customer loyalty DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/94-06 Publication date: February 28th 2025