Poland Drugstores Scene

The Polish drugstore sector is extensively developed with international players, as well strong and focused local ones. In 1993 Rossmann (Germany) entered the Polish market and today is the leader of the market with 500 stores all over the country and have 40% market share. The company intends to open 80-100 stores each year and expects to manage 1,000 stores by 2015. The company wants also to increase its range to about 17,000 products including their private label brands.

Schlecker, another German player, entered the Polish market in 1994 with their first store in Poznan, actually I could not find any updated information about the company, number of stores and its operation in Poland. One things i have noticed is the new logo on their main site launched in January 2011, but so far the stores signs are still showing the old logo.

Super-Pharm, with 26 stores in 2010, located throughout Poland, combined to produce $160 million in sales, or an average of $6.5 million per store. Super-Pharm’s plans for Poland call for some 70 drug stores to be operational by 2015.

The amazing challenger is Natura, a promising Polish chain that started in 1997 and has a huge potential and should be monitored closely, as in my opinion will grow on the fast path. With 250 stores and a competent staff, their stores can be found both in shopping centers and galleries, as well in major cities and smaller towns. Natura employs 1,200 people and have around 8,000 products in their stores.