Greek online pharmacies register 18% rise in sales in Q3

An 18% growth rate in the value of online sales was recorded by Online Pharmacies, during the third quarter of 2022 compared to the corresponding period of 2021.

In fact, in the first three quarters of 2022, Greek consumers have made purchases worth 201 million including VAT, according to the Convert Group report.

The average discounts that consumers find on the digital shelf of pharmacies hover at 39%, increased by 1 unit compared to the previous year.

Non-prescription drugs not included

Purchases from online pharmacies do not include over-the-counter medicines (non-prescription medicines), as Greece is the only country in Europe that has not harmonized with European Directive 2011/62/EU and European Regulation 699/2014 ​, while it has not even implemented the relevant OECD recommendation for online pharmacies, as recorded in a report by the Organization in 2017 on the competitive conditions of the sector.

The recent Interministerial decree

In fact, the recent Interministerial decree of April 20, 2022 determines that it is forbidden to sell over-the-counter medicines online in Greece, and they can only be available in physical pharmacies.

This information along with many more valuable findings are included in the quarterly report published today by Convert Group through the eRetail Audit platform. The company’s innovative platform allows suppliers and merchants of products through e-commerce to have daily access to commercial, marketing and technological data that play a decisive role in their digital shelf strategy.

Health products and baby items

Among the categories of online purchases that increased in value (€) over the first 9 months of 2022, the following stand out: +44% in health products (with protective masks included in this category), +28% in baby and children’s items, +11% in nutritional supplements and vitamins, +7% in beauty and personal care products and +5% in miscellaneous products. The beauty and personal care category continues to dominate with 46% of total industry sales coming from it, with face care products dominating. On the contrary, although the category of health products continues to experience the greatest growth, it is responsible for only 12% of the total sales of the sector. As the pandemic has now receded from the minds of consumers, in addition to the development of the category of health products, discounts are also affected, as in the 9 months under study, protective masks and diagnostic tests for coronavirus have large discounts of the order of 66 % and 63% respectively.

Smaller shopping basket

A decrease in the value of the average shopping basket was seen in the 9th month of 2022, , with it being €43.70 with VAT from €44.90 in the corresponding period of 2021. Accordingly, the average amount of products that placed by consumers in their online shopping cart increased by 7% to 4.9 items with 1.9 of them being care and personal care products. The conclusion is that inflation did not touch the e-pharmacy channel in the period of 9 months compared to the corresponding period last year.

At the same time, data confirm that the largest e-pharmacies, that is, those with more than 200 thousand online visits each month, continue to experience greater growth in their sales than the smaller e-pharmacies.

Marketing channels

As concerns marketing channels, in the 9 months, Google ads are still stealing the show bringing 41% of the total transactions, and marking an increase of 6 points compared to the same period in 2021. Also, the price comparison engines are responsible in their turn for 17% of transactions, while aggregate results for 14%.

Consumers continue to actively show their preference towards using mobile & tablet devices for making their online purchases with a percentage of 65% compared to desktop & laptop devices (35%). With regard to placing orders, lunch hours (12:00-15:00) are preferred, while Wednesday is the most popular day.

Convert Group’s quarterly report on the Online Pharmacy industry was published at https://convertgroup.com/resources/reports. Convert Group is active in the Data & Analytics sector with innovative projects in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Awarded for 5 consecutive years as one of the 25 best working environments in Greece and one of the best  working environments for 2021 in Europe, employing 65 scientific staff, in the roles of engineers, data scientists, and analysts.