The Digital Catch-Up in Pharmacies // Bonsai Pharmacy Digital Check 2026 // The percentage of pharmacies that consider themselves “digital”—beyond just e-prescriptions—is rising significantly // Customer apps are bringing pharmacies noticeable additional business // OTC and over-the-counter advertising has a visibility problem: Half of pharmacists can’t think of a successful campaign off the top of their heads.
· From the pharmacists’ perspective, particularly successful campaigns come from L’Oréal, Beiersdorf, and Haleon

Bonsai Research is expanding its RX Health division (prescription drugs). Jörg Paus, a proven expert in pharmaceutical and healthcare research, is joining the team. Real behavioral data from 20 million online users enables Bonsai to conduct AI-powered in-depth analyses of the sensitive topic of the patient journey.

– The highlight of the " Bonsai" offering: the combination of behavioral data with actual sales data from the pharmacies’ inventory management systems.

Bonsai Bonsai is launching its AI Development Team as a new organizational unit. In this way, is leveraging its behavioral data science expertise to consistently continue its growth trajectory through the use of artificial intelligence. The new “ ” logo is the logical outcome of the evolution of AI projects into scalable processes. Bonsai

To mark Giving Tuesday, the international day of giving on December 2, 2025, the German Fundraising Association (DFRV), in collaboration with the German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI), is publishing the results of the German Donation Monitor, which is managed by the DFRV. The study is conducted by Bonsai . In 2025, 5,008 people in Germany between the ages of 16 and 75 were surveyed online for this study.

Anna-Sophie Knebel will become Team Lead and Client Partner for the CX/Mystery and Business Solutions division of the " Bonsai." She will join the existing leadership duo of Maik Stücken and Martin Siek.
With the addition of two new consultants, Jana Lunau and Ilona Schinz, additional capacity will be created for the operational business of Bonsai .

Christian Dössel, previously Senior Vice President at Behaviorally, will become Head of Innovation at Bonsai Research. With this new unit, Bonsai will strategically expand its innovation research.

Bonsai ’s OTC Category Spotlight reveals that cold remedies are pharmacists’ favorite category—and are further solidifying their position as the top choice. Voltaren and Nicorette are the star products in their respective categories and are now even more highly preferred by pharmacists than they were last year. Pharmacists in leadership roles find advising on OTC categories—which are also financially rewarding—the most enjoyable.

Following the bankruptcy of EARSandEYES, part of the team and the business are moving to Bonsai Research. Many of EARSandEYES’s existing clients are continuing their collaboration under the Bonsai umbrella. With this acquisition, Bonsai is expanding its existing portfolio in the field of brand and marketing research. Frank Lüttschwager, the former managing director of EARSandEYES, is also joining Bonsai.

Bonsai Health is publishing the results of the "Bonsai Pharmacies Digital Check 2025" for the first time today. The new study provides information on the reality and pharmacies' assessment of relevant digitalization topics.

Innovative research platform from Bonsai and HGT combines the virtual test market with a new Studio@Home solution. Bonsai Research launches the new virtual research platform for category management, product, packaging and concept tests. The highlight: in cooperation with HGT (Herzog, Glaser, Thelen), Bonsai is now combining tests in the studio with the newly developed Studio@Home approach, a solution that is not only innovative, but above all efficient.

Never new Bonsai OTC pharmacy sales study shows: Overall, the image of OTC manufacturers among pharmacies still leaves a lot to be desired, the new Bonsai OTC Pharmacy Sales Study shows // OTC manufacturers should not cut back in the wrong place - on staff. The human factor is even more important to pharmacies than it used to be // Half of the promotional materials that manufacturers deliver to pharmacies still end up unused // Couponing campaigns are used more by pharmacies than in the previous year // Manufacturer portals are a touchpoint with potential.

Bonsai Research publishes the largest social media study on social change "Values Index 1/25 Psycho-Reality": Society is polarizing like never before. Filter bubbles lead to individual realities that not only determine political opinion-forming and voting behavior, but also consumption. At an online forum for companies and interested media representatives on March 7, 2025, Bonsai Research will show how marketing must react to the new psycho-realities.

Good news in the run-up to Christmas: private donors are giving six billion euros to good causes this year - 200 million euros more than last year. This does not even include large donations of over 1,500 euros. Donations for child and youth welfare are particularly common (28% of donors). The second most important donation purpose is immediate and emergency aid in (civil) war and disaster areas; in third place is animal welfare.

Bonsai Research gains Dr. Anke Möser as a Client Partner. The company is thus further expanding the Bonsai Strategy unit. With her industry and methodological expertise, Dr. Anke Möser will particularly support clients from the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.

Bonsai Research is taking over the virtual reality-supported shopper and store research of its previous cooperation partner VR Insight. This means that Bonsai is bringing VR and AR test market research in-house: Bonsai 's new test market is going virtual! Both the technology and the databases as well as existing customers and employees will be taken over.

Bonsai Research launches the new bonsAI today after extensive testing. bonsAI is a state-of-the-art, AI-powered marketing and market research solution that will revolutionize the way companies understand and interact with their audiences. By analyzing online behavioral data from 20 million online users worldwide, bonsAI creates detailed audience profiles and transforms this data into actionable insights using Knowledge Graphs and Large Language Models (LLMs). In Germany alone, bonsAI has access to the data of 500,000 online users. bonsAI makes concrete suggestions for channels, content and even for visuals and the language style of campaigns.

New studies: Bonsai ApoVote and Bonsai OTC sales study: 91 percent of pharmacists say that their customers' purchasing behavior has changed in the face of inflation. A third of pharmacies have recorded a decline in the number of customers. In addition, fewer products per purchase are being sold over the counter. And: more than half of the advertising material that pharmaceutical manufacturers give to pharmacies ends up in the bin unused. 

On March 1, 2024, Kim Haußer and Prof. Peter Wippermann joined the market research company Bonsai Research after years of close collaboration. Kim Haußer and Trendbüro founder Prof. Peter Wippermann will continue the successful future studies of Bonsai Research and launch new projects together with Bonsai CEO Jens Krüger. In order to strategically expand the area of foresight, Bonsai Research is founding the new unit Bonsai Future.

 The largest social media study on changing values shows: The tone on social media is becoming more aggressive. Society is drifting further apart. Clear attitudes are now required from politicians, institutions and companies. As part of the current study "Values Index Update 1/2024 - Attitude", more than twelve million posts on social media were analyzed with the help of AI. "Freedom", "health" and "family" are the values that concern people the most.