douglas enter the health sector. The perfumery chain has acquired the Dutch online pharmacy Disapo, which sells medicines mainly in Germany and China. With this purchase, Douglas wants to enter a new market with great opportunities and a «huge growth area» as explained by the Douglas principal, Tina Müller. “The beauty and health markets are increasingly converging, we see it very clearly«.
This acquisition does not yet have the approval of the German authorities and the amount paid by Douglas in this acquisition is unknown. However, if they know what his next moves will be. In the first half of the year, purchases through Disapo will be available to Germans and digital recipes will be introduced. «The electronic prescription offers excellent opportunities for growth and we will secure a share of the market“, He said Muller to the newspaper Handelsblatt.
This service will reach million customers, which will facilitate the purchase of pharmaceutical products. In addition, in some of its stores you can «pharmacy counters» and will hire qualified personnel to advise clients, affirms the director of douglas.
With the offer in Germany , millions of customers would be reached “in one fell swoop,” explained Douglas manager Vanessa Stützle, head of digital. Müller told the “Handelsblatt” that there will also be “pharmacy counters” in “flagship branches”. Pharmacists should be contracted to provide advice.
«By offering over-the-counter medicines and other pharmaceuticals through Disapo, our market will instantly reach millions of customers in Germany alone. Therefore, we are systematically becoming a beauty and health platform“, He says Vanessa Stützle, Digital Director of DOUGLAS. «We are planning a gradual expansion of the online pharmacy offer in our main European countries, thus entering a market with sales in 2020 of more than 160 billion euros«. When stutzle speaks of expanding his business to other European countries, he refers to Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Austria and the Netherlands.
The turnover of the German pharmaceutical market in 2020 is estimated at around 60 billion euros. Online retail accounted for around five percent of the total market in Germany in 2020. Disapo has a broad portfolio and was named “Trend Shop Rising Star of 2022” by Computerbild and Statista.