New online pharmacy
Drugstore chain dm also wants to sell medicines in the future
It may scare pharmacies, but delight customers: drugstore giant dm is preparing to sell over-the-counter medicines with an online pharmacy in the Czech Republic.
The drugstore chain dm wants to sell over-the-counter medications in the future. To this end, the company recently “created the conditions for a dm online pharmacy,” explains dm marketing director Sebastian Bayer when asked. However, they only want to sell over-the-counter medications. Only sales in the dm online shop are planned. In the branch you will only be able to pick up what you ordered online. This has to do with German laws protecting pharmacies and personal advice when purchasing medication. It would not be legally possible for the company to set up an online pharmacy in Germany, which is why dm founded the company in the Czech Republic.
This makes the fear of many pharmacists that one of the large retail chains will start selling medicines a reality. But this is also a threat for online pharmacies: The Handelsblatt had barely reported on the dm plans in the morning when the prices of the market leaders DocMorris and Redcare Pharmacy (“Shop-Apotheke”) fell on the stock exchange.
One in seven pharmacies has already given up
The medication market is highly competitive. In the past ten years, one in seven pharmacies has already closed. But there is also tough competition between online pharmacies. While around 99 percent of prescription medicines are still bought in pharmacies, the figure for pharmacy-only but over-the-counter medicines is only around three quarters. Online pharmacies sell the rest. In addition to those already mentioned, the larger providers include Aponeo, Medicines-per-Click, Apo-Discounter and Sanicare.
The great hope of online shops is that, following the recent introduction of e-prescriptions, they will finally be able to sell a larger proportion of prescription medicines. Accordingly, DocMorris and Shop-Apotheke are currently investing millions in their advertising campaigns. But the backlog of pharmacies is large and the introduction of e-prescriptions has been delayed for a long time. So now new competition comes from dm.
You have to know that products such as plasters, pH-neutral soaps, disinfectants and the like have long been sold in large quantities in drugstores. And if you take plasters, for example, they are also cheaper at dm or Rossmann than at most online pharmacies – not to mention normal pharmacies. This has contributed to the fact that the drugstore chain dm already enjoys great trust when it comes to health.
Consumers would buy medicines from dm
A survey by the management consultancy Sempora showed that three quarters of consumers could imagine purchasing over-the-counter medications from dm in the future. This puts dm ahead of Rossmann (two thirds) in the Sempora survey – and well ahead of supermarket chains such as Edeka and Rewe, where only a good third of those surveyed can imagine this.
When dm asked, the company wanted to know exactly when it would start shipping painkillers and decongestant nasal sprays online star don’t say. However, discussions are already underway with manufacturers and suppliers. This is also done in order to “be well prepared for possible new legal regulations after the federal election”. There is hope that a CDU-led government could relax the protection of pharmacies somewhat.
These well-known companies have filed for bankruptcy
esprit
The fashion group Esprit is closing its branches in Germany: almost half of the 56 stores will close by the end of 2024, the rest by the end of January 2025. In May, the company filed for bankruptcy for its stores in Europe. This cost around 1,300 employees their jobs. Things didn’t look good for the branches right from the start, after all, it was the second insolvency proceedings in Germany in just four years. In 2020, the group had already closed 50 branches – and laid off a third of the workforce. Deichmann has now secured the Esprit trademark rights in the footwear sector, while the trademark rights for Esprit textiles go to the Theia Group.
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What is Amazon doing?
However, when it comes to this issue, dm is not only the driver, but possibly also the driver. Because above all else is the question of what Amazon is doing. You can already order over-the-counter medicines there via the Marketplace, i.e. from online pharmacies that offer them there. But Amazon hasn’t really gotten involved yet. But many in the industry believe that it is only a matter of time.
In the USA, Amazon has long been operating as a pharmacy itself. Under the brand name “Basic Care,” the group also sells copycat products it produces, such as allergy medicines and stomach acid blockers. In the aforementioned Sempora survey, consumers were also asked about Amazon. Result: Every second person can imagine ordering medication there.
Source: Stern
