• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, August 8, 2007

Publix, a leading Southeastern supermarket chain, has upped the ante in the retail pharmacy game and says it will now give away seven different--and extremely popular--antibiotics for free.

The news is just the latest in the retail free-for-all for consumer prescriptions. Wal-Mart, of course, waded in with its $4 generic drug program last year, which Target pharmacies quickly matched. And K mart now sells a 90-day supply of many generics for just $15.

But while many of these drug discounts have been--at least inherently--skewed toward older people who use more prescriptions, this marketing effort targets the young families that supermarkets covet. Publix says that these seven prescriptions (Amoxicillin, Cephalexin, Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim, Ciprofloxacin, Penicillin VK, and Ampicillin and Erythromycin) represent 50% of its generic pediatric prescriptions. There is no limit on the number of refills.

"Of course, this isn't going to build Publix's pharmacy business," says Lester Nathan, a consultant to pharmacies and CEO of Results Management & Marketing. "Giving anything away for free won't boost profits. But it will drive more traffic through their doors and boost food sales as a result. Publix is trying to buy customers for their food operation and enlarge its share of market."

Typically, he says, a low percentage of supermarket shoppers--usually in the 20s--come to fill a prescription. In drugstore chains, however, that percentage is much higher--"closer to one out of two shoppers are there to fill a prescription," he says.

"We are always striving to provide our customers with service and value," Publix says. "With health care and prescription costs on the rise, our free prescription drug program will reinforce our commitment to the total health and wellness of our customers and their families."