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.

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.

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. 

New findings from Bonsai on online shopping behavior for OTC products
The importance of OTC brand websites is overestimated. One third of online shoppers of OTC products choose another product on the way to the shopping cart. 90 percent of buyers of OTC products do not visit the brand website. Say-Do-Gap: 93 percent of OTC shoppers use Google before making a purchase. But only just under a quarter state this in surveys. Manufacturers can significantly improve their competitive position with optimized online strategies.

Bonsai Health today published the latest results of the Bonsai OTC Pharmacy Field Service Rating 2023. According to this, field service visits are important or very important for almost three quarters of pharmacists (76 percent). The individual observations of the manufacturers show however serious differences - straight with very crucial criteria such as the recommendation frequency.

All pharmacies in Germany suffer from supply bottlenecks. 93 percent state that they have to deal with supply problems on a daily basis. Five percent are affected several times a week, the rest less frequently. These are results of the new ApoVote study from Bonsai Health.

Bonsai Research brings another proven health expert on board with Bettina Mertens-Danowski. The research specialist - traditionally strong in the health sector with its pharmacy panel, among other things - is combining the activities in the new unit Bonsai Health. An important component of Bonsai Health continues to be access to relevant sales data via the Bonsai partner NOVENTI.