Pharmacy loyalty programs: what the leading chains do
Resources · Pharmacy
A pharmacy loyalty program works when it identifies every purchase, sustains repeat purchases from chronic patients, and turns that data into revenue with manufacturers and brands. The leading chains don’t win by offering bigger discounts: RD Saúde identifies 97% of its purchases, and its regular customers bring 9 times more gross margin than occasional ones. This benchmark covers more than 20 chains in 14 markets, with public sources, and the order in which to build each piece.
Benchmark built on public information: none of these chains is a Qurable client.
- 01
Know
- One profile
- % of identified sales
- 02
Activate
- Balance at checkout
- Targeted coupons
- 03
Retain
- On-time refills
- Guaranteed availability
- 04
Monetize
- Manufacturers and brands
- Retail media and paid tiers
20+ chains, public data
None of these chains is a Qurable client. Every figure has a source.
- 97%of RD Saúde’s purchases are identifiedRD Saúde, Q3 2025
- 9xmore gross margin from regular customers than occasional onesRD Saúde, Q3 2025
- 20Mactive users of Farmacias del Ahorro’s MonederoFarmacias del Ahorro, 2026
- 31%of RD Saúde’s retail sales are already digitalBP Money, Q2 2026
Key takeaways
- Leading pharmacy chains win because they know their customers, not because they offer bigger discounts: RD Saúde identifies 97% of its purchases, and its regular customers bring 9 times more gross margin.
- A cash balance spent on the next purchase beats points: Farmacias del Ahorro has 20 million active users on a wallet where each point is worth one peso.
- Order matters: know, activate, retain, and monetize. Manufacturers, paid memberships, and retail media fund the program once the data is in order.
Full version · PDF
Pharmacy Loyalty Benchmark 2026
This page is the summary. The full benchmark covers more than 20 chains in 14 markets with sources, infographics ready for your leadership team, and a self-assessment to place your chain.
- 38
- pages
- 20+
- chains
- 43
- public sources
- 14
- markets
Only in the PDF
- The US, Europe, and Asia: Walgreens, CVS, Boots, Watsons, Superdrug, Rossmann, and dm
- The business case with six levers and sizing across three scenarios
- A scorecard of 11 chains on six dimensions, plus a self-assessment for your chain
Six levers
What the leaders do, and how your chain can do it.
Each lever with a public example and how it runs on Qurable on top of your POS and e-commerce. Sources are listed below the table.
| At the leading chains | With Qurable | |
|---|---|---|
| Identification | RD Saúde identifies 97% of its purchases at the register, in the app, and online, and reports identified sales to investors | One profile per ID number across brands and channels; customers are identified at the counter in under 50 ms (p95) |
| Balance as a payment method | Farmacias del Ahorro: e-money where each point is worth one peso and is spent on the next purchase | A cash balance or cashback spent at checkout, with the reward decided in ~150 ms |
| Chronic patient adherence | Farmacias Ahumada guarantees members a month of treatment; Farmacias del Ahorro gives free units in adherence plans | Reminders before every refill and consistency missions, measured against a control group |
| Personalization | Panvel tripled the items offered through profile-based coupons; McKinsey estimates personalization lifts revenue by 10% to 15% | Audiences by category, frequency, and channel; the engine picks each customer’s offer, never based on diagnoses |
| Manufacturers and retail media | RD Saúde sells media to brands through Impulso, a network of 10,000+ screens; Farmacity launched Farmacity Connect in 2024 | Promotions co-funded by manufacturers and brands, with each campaign’s contribution and results recorded |
| Points across brands | Farmacias del Ahorro moves balances with Doters; Farmacias Ahumada awards Mi Club Lider pesos | Points coalition: partners earn and redeem through one API, reconciled in the ledger |
Sources: RD Saúde, Q3 2025 results · BP Money, RD Saúde Q2 2026 · Farmacias del Ahorro, Monedero del Ahorro · Chócale, pharmacy programs in Chile (2022) · Grupo Panvel, 2025 results · McKinsey, the value of personalization · Mercado&Consumo, RD Saúde’s Impulso (2026) · Mercado, Farmacity Connect
All brands mentioned belong to their owners, and none of these chains is a Qurable client. This page uses only public information available as of November 6, 2026.
Seven chains
How each chain did it and what your chain can learn.
A summary of each Latin American chain: the bet, what worked, its limits, and what to take from it.
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| The bet | Identify the customer on every purchase and use that data for assortment, pricing, health services, and media. |
| What worked | 97% of purchases identified; regular customers buy 24 times a year versus 8 on average, and 31% of retail sales are now digital. |
| Limits | More than a decade of investment across 3,547 pharmacies: what you can copy is the discipline of measuring by customer, not the scale. |
| What your chain can take | Track the share of identified sales from day one, and segment by relationship with the pharmacy, not just by spend. |
| The bet | The Monedero del Ahorro: 1:1 e-money used as a payment method on the next purchase. |
| What worked | 20M active users, more than 1M monthly app users, and a Visa account that earns 2% on purchases outside the pharmacy. |
| Limits | A generous, flat balance becomes a blanket discount: people who would have bought anyway get it too. |
| What your chain can take | A balance that’s easy to understand, spent at checkout, and that rewards refills specifically. |
| The bet | Farmatodo Prime, a subscription with free delivery, plus retail media built on its purchase data since 2023. |
| What worked | More than 30% of sales online (2022) and 3M monthly active digital shoppers (2023). |
| Limits | The paid tier depends on reliable delivery: when delivery fails, the tier loses its point. |
| What your chain can take | A benefit customers use every week can sustain a paid tier, but it isn’t the place to start. |
| The bet | Compete on treatment continuity: Ahumada Contigo and one month of treatment guaranteed to members. |
| What worked | More than 350 medicines at up to 80% off, and prescription subscriptions since 2022. |
| Limits | The patient program builds loyalty in store, but digital is only 4% of sales. |
| What your chain can take | Guarantee availability for two or three high-volume chronic treatments, and send a reminder before each refill. |
| The bet | Profile-based coupons and AI-assisted ordering over WhatsApp (Panvel); three tiers, a paid tier with telemedicine, and a cashback wallet (Pague Menos). |
| What worked | Panvel tripled the items offered by coupon, and digital accounts for 28.6% of its sales (Q4 2025). |
| Limits | Personalization requires assortment and brand funding; the paid tier depends on the health service working well. |
| What your chain can take | Individual coupons in the app, funded by brands and measured against a no-coupon group. |
| The bet | Tu Farmacity: one program for the pharmacy, Simplicity, and e-commerce, with a single customer profile. |
| What worked | About 8M people served a year, and Farmacity Connect, its media business, since 2024. |
| Limits | No public figures on members or identified sales; the macro environment limits investment in rewards. |
| What your chain can take | One program across brands: customers shouldn’t need to know how the company is organized. |
| The bet | One Monedero del Ahorro for Inkafarma and Mifarma, with the national ID as the identifier in store, at the call center, and in the app. |
| What worked | More than 12M subscribers (2020) and more than 2,400 stores across both brands (2024). |
| Limits | In 2025, authorities flagged a possible data breach affecting more than 3M customers: health data security is part of the value proposition. |
| What your chain can take | The ID number as the single key across brands, with access rules for purchase history designed in from the start. |
Six mistakes
What keeps repeating in programs that don’t move sales.
The leaders took five to ten years to work through the four stages. These are the shortcuts that cost the most.
Launching points without identification
Without one profile per customer, the program is a discount by another name and leaves no data to act on.
Measuring redemptions, not incremental sales
High redemption can mean you rewarded people who would have bought anyway. Without a control group, there’s no provable return.
Handing the customer to the aggregator
Aggregators bring reach, but they keep the data and the relationship. RD Saúde caps them at 5% of its digital sales.
The same reward for everyone
Occasional customers and chronic patients don’t respond the same way. A flat reward is the most expensive per incremental sale.
Treating health data like marketing data
It’s sensitive data: it needs specific consent, and misuse destroys the trust customers place in their pharmacy.
Complexity the counter can’t explain
If staff can’t explain the reward in one sentence, customers won’t use it.
How to start
Four stages, one after another.
Qurable plugs into your POS, e-commerce, and app through APIs. Each stage goes live and is measured against a control group before the next one starts.
1. Know
One profile per ID number across brands and channels, with identified sales as the first KPI.
Customer Data Platform2. Activate
A balance spent at checkout and targeted coupons to drive the second purchase.
Loyalty at the POS and checkout3. Retain
Refill reminders and consistency missions for chronic patients.
Pharmacy loyalty program4. Monetize
Promotions co-funded by manufacturers and brands, with each party’s contribution recorded per campaign.
Supplier-funded promotions
FAQ
What teams ask about pharmacy loyalty.
Short answers for sales, marketing, and technology teams at pharmacy chains.
Identifying almost every purchase, sustaining repeat purchases from chronic patients, and turning the data into revenue with manufacturers and brands. RD Saúde identifies 97% of its purchases, and its regular customers bring 9 times more gross margin than occasional ones.
In pharmacy, a simple balance spent on the next purchase works best. Farmacias del Ahorro has 20 million active users on a wallet where each point is worth one peso: the balance drives frequency, which is what moves a chronic patient’s value the most.
By rewarding treatment continuity: guaranteed availability, a reminder before each refill, and a reward for consistency. According to the WHO, only half of chronic patients in developed countries follow their treatment.
Manufacturers and brands that pay to reach the right customer, paid memberships, and retail media. CVS has 6.5 million paid members, and RD Saúde and Farmacity sell audiences to brands. The leaders turn these sources on once the data is in order.
AS Watson’s (more than 180 million members across the group), Walgreens (124 million), CVS ExtraCare (more than 74 million), Boots Advantage Card (more than 17 million), and Shoppers Drug Mart’s PC Optimum (more than 15 million active members).
No. Qurable works as a layer on top of your POS, e-commerce, and current program. You start by identifying customers and tracking identified sales, and each stage is added once the previous one shows results against a control group.
Last reviewed
Go deeper
Keep reading about pharmacy loyalty.
The industry page, how to co-fund promotions with suppliers, and how to run one program across several brands.
- IndustryPharmacy loyalty program
Identification at the counter, a balance under your brand, and refills for chronic patients.
- ResourceSupplier-funded promotions
How a promotion’s cost is shared and reconciled with each brand.
- ResourceOne program for several brands
One profile, one balance, and rules by brand for a multi-banner group.
- ResourceOptimizing your promotion budget
Control groups and cost per incremental sale.
Get your chain’s data in order first.
In a 45-minute technical session, we’ll show you identification at the counter and a balance spent at checkout, in the sandbox.