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2020 was a successful year for German pharmacies - it is unlikely that it will continue like this (symbol picture)
Photo: Manngold / imago images
Pharmacists in Germany posted record sales during the corona crisis.
Last year revenues were 56.71 billion euros, as the Federal Association of German Pharmacists' Associations (ABDA) announced on Thursday in Berlin.
That was a good two billion euros more than the year before.
On the one hand, the high sales have to do with the sale of corona products such as masks, tests and disinfectants, said Claudia Korf, ABDA managing director for the economy.
However, pull-forward effects also played a role because many consumers were hoarding drugs at the beginning of the crisis.
Criticism of the generous remuneration for the sale of protective masks on the part of the federal government was again rejected by Korf: “That is nonsense.
There were exactly four weeks in which the government was looking for a way to distribute these masks to the population. ”Only the pharmacies were able to build structures and organize purchasing“ out of nothing ”.
In addition, the crisis also caused costs: According to ABDA figures, each pharmacist spent around 2500 euros on average to convert the branches to corona-compatible and to allocate the staff accordingly.
In addition, the current success hardly changes the long-term challenges for the industry.
The increased sales are offset by a further decline in the number of pharmacies in Germany.
In total, the ABDA had around 18,670 branches and individual pharmacies in the first three months of this year.
That was 82 pharmacies less than at the end of 2020. According to Korf, there is still a trend towards market concentration and branching out.
Challenge from online trading
In addition, the proportion of drugs sold by mail order is steadily increasing.
Every fifth package was ordered and shipped online last year.
In the long term, health researcher David Matusiewicz from Essen expects health services to be concentrated on digital platforms.
Large corporations like Amazon have long been looking at the lucrative healthcare market.
"It is all the more important that pharmacies find their role in competition."
In the coming year, the industry will first have to prepare for the introduction of the e-prescription.
Patients should then receive their prescription from the doctor via app and forward it to (online) pharmacies.
In the case of online orders requiring a prescription, it has previously had to be submitted by post.
nek / dpa
