Abstract
A mail survey was conducted among Mississippi community pharmacists to assess attitudes toward the shift of drug products from prescription to nonprescription status. An attempt was also made to identify relevant pharmacist and pharmacy characteristics on which to base market segmentation strategies. A total of 272 pharmacist respondents were grouped in 2 clusters using cluster analysis. Members of the first group were virtually unalterably opposed to the shift; members of the second group (60% of the respondents) were also negative toward the shift but acknowledged some benefits of it. The former group had lower prescription volume and total sales and had experienced greater sales losses from the ibuprofen switch.