Sales of non prescription drugs gradually making a great impression in the Swedish supermarkets

Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Pharmacies in Sweden have lost 20 percent of the market for non prescription after deregulation of the pharmacy market two years ago. Today, one in five non-prescription products is sold in grocery stores or gas stations. Something that was hard to see in Sweden just a few years ago.

“It's not a huge demand in the store's total sales. There is a small part, but an important part. It makes it easier for our customers,” says Mats Larsson, who runs an ICA Maxi supermarket in Lindhagen in Stockholm.

The pharmacy industry is taking the developments in stride,” said Johan Wallér, president of the Swedish Pharmacy Association.
“It was hard to have any idea what would happen. But at this level IT has yet to be guessed how it would end.”

Looking only at the sellers that sell pain killers and nasal sprays, the market share for that trade means around 30 percent has gone to the super market, according to trade association Swedish retailer.

The Swedish pharmaceutical market however is still largely in the hand of the government owned Apotek which still have the competitive advantage in that the structure set previously by the government is still in its hands. Also given its ownership and longevity in the sector, consumers and patient still look at it as a more legitimate source for medication.
A lot ground work and money has to be pumped in for he market to be fully fragmented.
By Scancomark.se Team

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