The shoe and fashion portal Zalando is currently expanding its portfolio more and more, because since recently the global corporation has been cooperating with the mail-order pharmacy „Medikamente per Klick“ and is thus competing for new customers who buy pharmacy-exclusive cosmetics here. The high-quality exclusive dermatological cosmetics, such as those from Vichy, Eucerin (Beiersdorf) or La Roche Posay, can be ordered via Zalando with just one click, without having to visit a local pharmacy. The mail-order pharmacy has brought Zalando on board in order to be able to better control the product range offered via its own initiative. The same is not so successful with Amazon’s marketplace, for example. Amazon determines which products are offered, how and at what price. Amazon also receives a 15 percent commission for each order. However, Zalando and „Medication by Click“ have little overlap in their customer clientele, so new customers can be acquired.
The manufacturers of the pharmacy-exclusive dermocosmetics have also given the green light, as the cooperation has been agreed with all parties in advance and found to be permissible as well as legally compliant, explains L’Oréal in a statement.
Products from the mail-order pharmacy are offered on the Zalando marketplace, but are not then purchased via Zalando. The purchase and processing are carried out entirely by the pharmacy, which has the selective contracts with the manufacturers of the demopharmacy products. On the Zalando marketplace, the manufacturers conclude, the mail-order pharmacy as seller of the product range consequently does not violate the contracts.
Nevertheless, stationary pharmacies remain the clear focus of the pharmaceutical cosmetics manufacturers. With training courses, samples and testers, as well as sales animations, for example, the focus continues to be on stationary pharmacies, which are also visited by sales representatives.
However, Beiersdorf or L’Oréal also admit that marketplace models such as Zalando are an interesting place for more sales as well as new customer acquisition, because the 2020 financial year was quite sluggish and not satisfactory. Whether there will be a softening of pharmacy exclusivity at some point, industry experts, including „Medikamente per Klick“ CEO Karlheinz Ilius do not know.However, an expansion of the range with free choice products or even OTC products would be conceivable in the future.
Source: apotheke-adhoc.de