The six largest drugstore chains on the Romanian market postedover 80 million euros in sales on the non-pharmaceutical segment(creams and skin care products) in the first nine months of thisyear, i.e. almost a quarter of the overall sales recorded in thisperiod, worth more than 360 million euros.
The Sensiblu, Catena, Dona, Help Net, Remedio and Centrofarmchains, which control almost 800 drugstores, derive between 9 and46% of their sales from non-pharmaceutical products, which arepreferred by pharmaceutical retailers because their price is notregulated as is the case of prescription drugs, so they can settheir own markups.
Representatives of the OTC division (non-prescription drugs) ofJohnson&Johnson Romania said recently that the markups on thissegment amount to as much as 45-50% this year, from 35% in2008.
"The non-pharmaceutical product category mainly includescosmetics, dermocosmetics (products on the borderline betweendermatological remedy and cosmetics, sanitary products, bandages,medical equipment such as tensiometers and glucometers," said DorinCatana, general manager of Centrofarm.
Catana says there is not a clear standardisation ofnon-pharmaceutical products, which means every chain decides whatcategories are included on this segment. Teas for instance areconsidered nutritional supplements by some chains, so they areincluded in the pharmaceutical category, whilst in the case ofother chains, teas are categorised as non-pharmaceutical products.For most chains non-pharmaceutical sales saw rises since thebeginning of this year. "We exceeded last year's level because wehad new drugstores, and thanks to the large display areas," DorinCatana explains.
Sensiblu, the largest chain on the Romanian market, posted salesworth around 27 million euros on the non-pharmaceutical segment,i.e. 20% of its around 136 million-euro turnover in the first ninemonths of the year.
Help Net is the chain with the biggest share ofnon-pharmaceutical product sales, 46% of overall sales. In terms ofvalue, the non-pharmaceutical segment accounts for 23 million eurosof the chain's sales.
Catena is the chain with the lowest percentage of sales derivedfrom such products, only 9%, down from the 11% recorded in thefirst nine months of last year.
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