Health: Despite the rise of online sales, the French remain loyal to pharmacies for their healthcare purchases

The American delivery giant's vitality in this segment was confirmed in the first quarter of 2025 in France, marked by growth of 43% year-on-year, after +44% for the whole of 2024, according to figures from the health data analysis firm, Iqvia. "Three-quarters of the products marketed by Amazon are new references on the European market, mainly in dermo-cosmetics, where margins are higher," underlines Iqvia.

This growth reflects more broadly the rise of e-commerce of over-the-counter health products in Europe, which "shows dynamic growth in all countries, but the market share remains limited compared to traditional channels," that is to say pharmacies, "particularly in France," this specialist tempers.

Disparities remain significant from one country to another. In Spain, the growth in online sales of over-the-counter products such as cough syrups, vitamins and dietary supplements, and hygiene and beauty products reached 25%. This is followed by Poland (18%), Italy (16%), and Germany (11%).

In France, the growth in online orders is more measured (+6%) but exceeds that of traditional pharmacies (+3.5%). In terms of market share, "online pharmacies represent roughly 2% of the total in France and 3% if you include Amazon, so it remains relatively small," says Paul Reynolds, an expert at Iqvia France.

Thanks to a strong local presence, France's approximately 22,000 pharmacies remain the primary point of sale. "Year after year, the reflex to seek advice from a pharmacy is confirmed. Even more so since Covid, where there has been a strengthening of the close bond between the French and their pharmacist," notes Reynolds.

This attachment to pharmacies reinforces the pharmaceutical monopoly—in France, only a pharmacy run by a pharmacist can sell medications—which the National Order of the profession wants to preserve in the face of the rise of e-commerce. "We understand that today there is a search for ease of access," Carine Wolf-Thal, the president of this organization, recently declared. But "because there is no harmless medication," "pharmacists are there precisely to prevent misuse and overconsumption."

Online sales are seen by the profession as "complementary," "especially in regions where there is no pharmacy nearby," but "above all, the pharmacist must have an online sales site registered with the Regional Health Agency (ARS). And under no circumstances can this be a prescription for medication," emphasizes Carine Wolf-Thal.

Just as in Italy and Spain, distance selling activity remains limited to only those medications that are not subject to mandatory prescription, i.e. those that are freely available at the pharmacy (also known as OTC, short for "over the counter"). Only 838 French pharmacies are listed as having an online sales activity for medications requiring optional medical prescription.

Not included are those that choose to sell only parapharmacy products online and therefore do not require any special authorization. Anglo-Saxon countries adopt a more liberal approach: in Germany and the United Kingdom, for example, an online pharmacy can offer prescription medications for sale.