Press Release on the New Study “Bonsai : Pharmacy Digital Check 2026”

The Digital Catch-Up in Pharmacies

· The percentage of pharmacies that consider themselves “digital”—beyond just e-prescriptions—is rising significantly.
· Customer apps are generating noticeable additional business for pharmacies.
· Advertising for OTC and over-the-counter products has a visibility problem: Half of pharmacists cannot spontaneously name a successful campaign.
· From the pharmacists’ perspective, particularly successful campaigns come from L’Oréal, Beiersdorf, and Haleon

Hamburg / Bremen, June 16, 2026.Bonsai Health is releasing today the new findings of the “Bonsai : Pharmacy Digital Check 2026.” This installment of the annual study provides detailed information on the actual level of digitization and the attitudes of pharmacists in Germany. It also offers detailed benchmark analyses for the industry’s 20 leading companies.

A key finding: “Pharmacies are catching up digitally. The percentage of those who consider themselves well-positioned digitally has grown significantly—even beyond the mandatory e-prescription requirement,” says Bettina Mertens-Danowski, Head of Bonsai Health. An intriguing paradox: While 76 percent rate themselves as digitally capable, 80 percent still (also) rely on fax machines to communicate with their field sales representatives. Furthermore, nearly a quarter of pharmacies still give themselves a poor rating when it comes to digitization: 24 percent state that most processes in their pharmacy that could be digitized are still handled analogously.

Digitalization Is on the Rise – B2C Apps Drive Real Additional Business

In contrast, a process of digital maturation is evident in B2C customer apps in which pharmacies serve as partners, such as gesund.de, IhreApotheken.de, and meineapotheke.de. Two findings in particular are indicative of this trend:

Economic Success:The percentage of respondents who believe these apps generate real additional revenue for pharmacies has risen significantly by 14 percentage points to 36 percent.
Efficiency:Pharmacists perceive the ratio between the operational costs of business processes and the actual revenue from the app business to be significantly healthier.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers’ online portals are also being used more extensively than in the previous year: 26 percent of pharmacies now access these services daily or weekly (an increase of four percentage points compared to 2025). The portals are primarily used for organizational tasks and digital training. However, the group of those who use the portals less frequently or not at all has also grown slightly again (to 39 percent).

Virtual Field Service: Once You Try It, You'll Want More

The digital transformation is also having an impact on communication with the field staff, but it is running up against emotional barriers there:

Desire to Expand:Among pharmacies that already use virtual communication (such as video calls) with manufacturers, the desire to expand these formats has doubled—from 9 to 18 percent.
The Limits of the Digital World:When asked about the tangible advantages of virtual field service compared to in-person visits, pharmacies’ sobering verdict remains: “Nothing worth mentioning.”
A clear preference for face-to-face conversations: “People —in this case, the sales representatives—continue to hold intrinsic value for pharmacists,” emphasizes Bettina Mertens-Danowski.

Marketing Campaigns: Visibility Is Half the Battle

A key theme of the “ Bonsai ” Pharmacy Digital Check is the perception of OTC and self-service campaigns. The bad news, according to Bettina Mertens-Danowski: “Half of the respondents couldn’t immediately think of a single campaign that had particularly caught their attention in a positive way over the past year.” Nearly one-fifth of the pharmacists surveyed (19 percent) say they cannot recall a single OTC/self-selection public campaign from the past year.

Improving in this area would pay off immediately for manufacturers at the point of sale if they provided the appropriate materials: Two-thirds of the pharmacists who particularly liked a marketing campaign also actively displayed it in their pharmacies. As part of the study, pharmacists rated the campaigns by L’Oréal, Beiersdorf, Haleon, Bionorica, and Klosterfrau as particularly successful.

About the Study:For the “Bonsai : Pharmacy Digital Check 2026,” 270 pharmacists in owner or management positions—representative of community pharmacies in Germany in terms of location and size—were surveyed. The study examines pharmacies’ digital engagement at the point of sale (PoS), collaboration with the sales force, digital training formats, online portals, and the utility of customer apps, and provides detailed benchmark analyses for 20 leading companies.

The full report on the study can be ordered from Bonsai Health for €690. Subscribers to the " Bonsai " OTC Sales Study can purchase the report at a discounted price of €490.

Contact:
Bettina Mertens-Danowski, Head of Bonsai Health
bettina.mertens-danowski@bonsai-research.com
+49 40 6077 681 26

The Digital Catch-Up in Pharmacies