Pharmaceutical retail fell ill – Newspaper Kommersant No. 159 (7360) dated 08/31/2022

Sales of medicines in pharmacies throughout Russia in July in physical terms decreased by 17%, for the first time since the beginning of the year, the turnover of pharmaceutical retail also decreased – by almost 2%, to 87.9 billion rubles. Russians also began to buy less biologically active additives (BAA) – their sales fell for the first time in a year and a half. Among the reasons for the contraction of the market, experts cite stocks of drugs made by consumers back in the spring and a decrease in the incidence of COVID-19. However, they expect that a new wave of the pandemic and an increase in seasonal diseases will allow pharmaceutical retailers to support sales in the second half of the year.

As Kommersant was told in the DSM Group, in July, drug sales in pharmaceutical retail in physical terms decreased by 17.1% year-on-year, to 297 million packs, in monetary terms – by 1.9%, to 87.9 billion rubles. According to analysts, the decrease in sales in money terms at the end of the month occurred for the first time since December 2021. Significantly decreased in July and sales of dietary supplements in monetary terms – by 6.1%, to 5.6 billion rubles, follows from the information of DSM Group. The last time dietary supplement sales fell was in March 2021.

General Director of the 36.6 pharmacy chain Alexander Kuzin confirms that July was the weakest month for the pharmaceutical retail this year. But summer is always the low season, he recalls, and besides, a drop in sales was expected after the wave of the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of the year and the rush demand in March-April. According to the CEO of DSM Group Sergey Shulyak, a much more significant drop was expected. Therefore, he calls the results of July, as well as the whole summer, “satisfactory”.

Meanwhile, for example, Sber Eapteke did not notice a decrease in demand for dietary supplements and medicines. They claim that in July, sales from the service in monetary terms increased by 39% year-on-year.

However, the leader among manufacturers of dietary supplements – the company “Evalar” – the volume of sales in July decreased by 22.3%, to 799.1 million rubles. Evalar Chairman of the Board of Directors Natalia Prokopyeva explains that the most noticeable impact was the drop in vitamin sales due to the weakening of the COVID-19 pandemic. She also notes a decline in the purchasing power of the general population in 2022.

As in the situation with drugs, the formation of stocks of dietary supplements during the period of rush demand in the spring played a role, adds Alexander Zhestkov, executive director of the self-regulatory organization Union of Producers of Dietary Supplements for Food.

Ms. Prokopyeva notes that the change in marketing priorities has also affected. “In the summer, the main emphasis in promotion was on Evalar medicines, which replace imported products,” she says. Therefore, Natalia Prokopieva continues, the share of sales of medicines, in contrast to dietary supplements, in the company’s total turnover has increased. It also points to an increase in the share of direct online sales of the company. The sale of dietary supplements through e-commerce is growing, but pharmacies are also developing in this area, so this is not yet reflected in the global redistribution of sales channels, disagrees Alexander Zhestkov.

Already in August, the situation with sales at the pharmaceutical retailer for most product groups began to normalize, says Sergey Shulyak. He explains this by another increase in the incidence of COVID-19. In the first three weeks of August, according to DSM Group, the growth in drug sales in money terms resumed year-on-year: by 0.8-6.8% in a week. But sales volumes of dietary supplements continued to decline.

Despite the July drop, over the seven months as a whole, drug sales in pharmacies grew by 24.5%, to 800.2 billion rubles, and dietary supplements – by 25%, to 54.8 billion rubles, calculated in DSM Group. Sber Eapteka expects that the results of the second half of the year, in addition to the next wave of COVID-19, may be affected by the traditional seasonal growth in the autumn-winter period associated with a change in the epidemiological situation.

Nevertheless, the growth rate in the remaining months of this year will be lower than in spring, Mr. Shulyak predicts. At the end of the year, he expects retail drug sales to grow by 13-15%, while a year ago this figure was 3.4%. Sales of dietary supplements will also increase, but by 10%, Mr. Zhestkov believes. According to DSM Group, in 2021, the volume of sales of such additives increased by 11.3%.

Polina Gritsenko