perfumery chain
Douglas enters the online pharmacy market
The logo of the Douglas perfumery chain. Douglas enters the online pharmacy market. Photo: Daniel Karmann/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Soon, Douglas no longer just wants to sell cosmetics and perfumes online, but also medicines. The perfumery chain has bought the Dutch online pharmacy Disapo.
Germany’s largest perfumery chain, Douglas, is entering the online pharmacy market. With the acquisition of the Dutch online pharmacy Disapo, Douglas wants to open up a new growth area, said the head of the perfumery chain, Tina Müller, on Thursday in Düsseldorf.
«The markets for beauty and health are increasingly converging. With the entry into the online pharmacy market, we will systematically use the growth opportunities in the healthcare market,” emphasized the manager. With the acquisition of Disapo, Douglas is strengthening two pillars of its growth strategy: the further consistent digitization of the business model and the expansion of the range of health products.
According to Douglas, Disapo.de Apotheke BV is currently mainly active in Germany and China. In the 2021 financial year, the company with around 200 employees achieved sales in the high double-digit million range. The purchase price was in the mid double-digit million range, it said.
In the course of the future introduction of e-prescriptions in Germany, enormous growth in the online pharmacy business can be expected, said Müller. Douglas intends to make systematic use of this growth opportunity. The plan is to start in the first half of the year in Germany with over-the-counter medicines. The possibility of ordering prescription drugs will follow on the Douglas marketplace in the course of the year.
Vanessa Stützle, the Douglas manager responsible for the digital business, announced: “We are planning a gradual expansion of the online pharmacy offering in our core European countries, which will allow us to enter a market with a total turnover of more than 160 billion euros in 2020.”