BACKGROUND: Community pharmacies in Nigeria play a crucial role in healthcare delivery, serving as accessible points for medicines, health promotion, and primary care services. However, sustaining these services requires financial viability. This study investigated the factors influencing profitability in community pharmacies in Southeastern Nigeria.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among licensed community pharmacists using a two-section questionnaire. Principal component analysis employed Varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization and listwise deletion of missing data. Data analysis was performed using the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27. Pearson’s correlation was used to determine the association of profitability with pharmacists and pharmacy characteristics. Linear regression explored the predictors of profitability in community pharmacies at 95% confidence interval and a < 0.05 level of significance.

RESULTS: Out of 345 respondents, 52.2% were males, under 30 years old (44.3%), married (48.7%), and had less than five years of experience (45.2%). Retail pharmacies were predominant (95.7%) and pharmacist-owned (78.3%). The mean profit margin was obtained as 33.38 ± 25.92. Five components of profitability were identified: Internal Operational Excellence and Strategic Market Adaptability (3.74 ± 1.166), Workforce Service Capacity and Customer Retention (3.90 ± 1.027), Inventory Management System (4.08 ± 0.966), Value-Added Health Services (3.83 ± 1.175), and Digital Customer Engagement and Promotion (3.82 ± 1.031)

CONCLUSION: Profitability of community pharmacies in Nigeria is influenced by gender, professional experience, pharmacy’s years of existence, and workforce composition. Value-Added Health Services and Digital Customer Engagement and Promotion are determinants of profit margins in community pharmacies

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