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Michael Fritsch and his wife built up the Apo-Discounter company in 2004. Both are pharmacists and therefore know their way around the industry. The meanwhile third-largest mail-order pharmacy after DocMorris and the store pharmacy in Leipzig started with the search for a logistics center. Behind Apo-Discounter is Apologistics GmbH, which will generate an annual turnover of about 200 million euros this year with 250 employees. However, Fritsch is not afraid of competition, because he sees other large mail-order pharmacies and stationary pharmacies only as a challenge. A year ago, he and an investor built a 20,000 square meter, fully automated logistics center equipped with the latest technology in Duiven in the Netherlands, from which Apologistics could supply customers in cities in the Ruhr area by express delivery, even as soon as the e-prescription is introduced. The founder and head of Apo-Discounter rarely gives interviews and usually keeps a low profile in public. Now he has made an exception and answered the Handelsblatt’s questions. According to this, Apo-Discounter is looking to generate 500 million euros in three to five years. Fritsch believes that he will achieve the goal simply by using the innovative, unique robot-controlled merchandise management system with the introduction of the e-prescription and fast delivery, because in his opinion customers tend to prefer simplicity and flexibility when using the electronic version; features that mail-order pharmacies can provide. He also expects an increasing share of Rx drugs in total sales, although bonuses on prescription drugs have recently been banned. In this context he speaks of a 10 percent market share. Fritsch also expects an e-prescription customer share of 25 to 45 percent in the near future. On the other hand, he sees little hope for many stationary pharmacies, because in his opinion only half of the pharmacies will survive at all when the e-prescription solution is introduced. On-site pharmacies are certainly still the best alternative for acutely needed medicine. But the 19,000 inpatient pharmacies currently operating will have a hard time in the future, because „the old pharmacy lobby is still fighting under the proviso that only they can maintain the supply of medicines in Germany,“ he said in an interview. But the rebellion will not last long, especially since a competitor from the USA is also courting German customers, namely Amazon. The mail-order giant is also trying to come to Germany as a pharmacy, which is still difficult at the moment because there is a ban on free ownership in Germany. But it will only be a question of time before Fritsch is also open to the „scalable, efficient and modern“ competition, because there is no such ban in the Netherlands.