Pharmacy chains in Russia – an interesting outlook

“Obviously, the drug store chains in Russia are becoming more and more important. However, only a few good retail concepts are available at present, which gives a great potential in this area”, says Reiner Christensen from Chameleon Pharma Consulting. “In our views, there is a clear trend that further consolidation among pharmacies will take place and the market share of retail chains will be increasing year by year.”

The 1st pharmacy in Russia was opened in 1581. In 1914 the number reached 4791 and now there are about 65.000 pharmacies and kiosks on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Today the pharmacy retail market makes up approximately 73% of the whole Russian pharma market and consists of OTCs, parapharmaceuticals, cosmetics, Rx, medical devices and hygienic products. It is interesting to know that there are no drugstores like those known in Europe e.g. “dm” or “Rossman”. The typical hygienic products are also sold in the new kind of pharmacy outlets like “36,6”.

The great part of the market is occupied by the most popular pharmacy chains – in Moscow they amount to 55% of all pharmacies and in the Udmurt Republic (Russian Federation) - even to 90% of the whole market.

The pharmacy chain „36,6“ owns 979 pharmacies in 29 Russian regions and its total sales was approximately 498 mio USD in 2011. In the recent years the company experienced some difficulties – the pharmacy chain has conceded the market leadership to “Rigla” for the first time since 2006. To gain a new target group the company management decided to launch an additional brand under the name “Pharmaceutical warehouse” (“Аптечный склад”) in 2012. Besides that, “36,6” management decided to expand the number of parapharmaceuticals and hygienic products. Taking this into consideration, “36,6” still ranks the 1st place in consolidated sales.

The direct relevant rival of the “36,6” pharmacy chain nowadays is “Rigla” – a pharmacy chain that overtook “36,6” in 2011 and reached the market share of 2,55%. The retail chain "Rigla" presents today 716 pharmacies in 26 regions of Russia. "Rigla" is constantly expanding the range of services for consumers: from open “centers of active cosmetics” in which one can hold a free diagnosis on skin and hair, till working pressure points, children`s workshops in the network and special promotions and discount systems.

The third pharmacy chain “A5” with 2,13% of market share was founded in autumn 2006 and after some acquisitions (the last purchase was “Mosoblformatsiya”) presents now a network, consisting of 4 retail brands with different consumer price segments (total of 1383 pharmacies):

• “A5” (223 pharmacies)
• “Social pharmacies” (340 pharmacies)
• “Mosoblformatsiya” (400 pharmacies)
• Discounter “Norma” (420 pharmacies)

The "A5" outlets do present more than 12 000 items, including products for seriously ill patients and for the period of rehabilitation, cosmetic products for moms and kids, diet, diabetes and sports nutrition.

The dynamics of the retail sector in the Russian Federation is really impressive – the annual growth in roubles comprises approximately 22%. The opening of new pharmacies, the increase in the purchases of more expensive drugs and the growth of prices in the Russian healthcare market – all these lead to the positive outlook in this retail sector. The market will consolidate during the next 3-5 years and only good retail concepts with value added for consumers will survive.

CHAMELEON PHARMA CONSULTING:

Chameleon Pharma Consulting is a healthcare expert in the emerging markets, e.g. Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Poland.
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Chameleon Pharma Consulting
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This release was published on openPR.