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All drugs in Apotek 1 are cheaper online than in stores, this week’s price test shows. Retirees believe that the elderly pay the price.
In Nettavisen Økonomis online pharmaceutical price test last week, there was a difference of more than 600 crowns between Boots and Apotek 1. In pharmacies, however, there is only a few dozen difference between pharmacies.
Perhaps more surprising is that there are large differences in prices in stores and online in the same chains for some products:
While Vitusapotek is priced the same on both platforms, there is a total difference of NOK 743.90 between Apotek 1 prices online and in pharmacies when 15 popular products have been tested.
POPULAR GOODS: You can save several hundred crowns by buying from Apotek 1 online instead of in store. At Vitusapotek, however, the prices are exactly the same, and you have little to say where you buy.
Photo: Gorm Kallestad (NTB)
An example is that a pack of 20 Ibux on the physical shelves of Apotek 1 costs 99.90, while in the same chain you can buy the same item for NOK 49 online. A pack of Paracet is also almost 18 crowns more expensive in a store than when shopping online at Apotek 1.
See the full price test further down in the article!
Retirees react: – Very unfair
General Secretary Harald Olimb Norman of the Pensioners Association believes the price test is sad reading at a time when hangouts are getting fewer and loneliness is growing for older Norwegian people.
– Pharmacies are an important meeting place for many older people, and if it is cheaper for them to sit at home and order medicines and other things online, it is a sad fact. Socioeconomically, I don’t think it is cheaper with online shopping than with a functional local community with lots of meeting places, but for the individual consumer in their selfish little world then of course half price Ibux is a good alternative. Norman says.
He himself says that he represents a group of large consumers of pharmacy items, who to a greater extent than others choose physical stores over online purchases.
– These are now at the expense of paying more expensive at the pharmacy than online. In a narrow world, this is very unfair. Pharmacy 1 must think carefully when they have such a big price difference online and pharmacy. At the same time, we need pharmacists and pharmacists, and reducing the size of pharmacies through more online shopping also hurts local communities and the wider community, says Norman.
Also read: Langer to Boots and Apotek 1: – Consumer abuse
DISAPPOINTED: Pensioners Association Secretary General Harald Norman believes analogous pensioners are penalized when prices are much higher in pharmacies than online.
Photo: Pensioners Association
He is supported by Tone Johannessen Coucheron, who until recently was the leader of the Pensioners’ Party (PP), but who has announced a transition to the newly initiated The party of the generation – which to some extent has overlapping policies with PP.
– This, of course, affects the older guard, who is not as active online as the younger ones. When it’s much cheaper online than at the drugstore, younger people need to help older adults place orders, Coucheron says.
She believes that pharmacies should label products that are more expensive in the store with the fact that there are cheaper alternatives online.
– Pharmacies should indicate that there are cheaper options. When pharmacies can get this low in price, it shows how much profit they are making. I think prices should be the same online and in pharmacies, says the former top of the PP.
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CRITICAL: Tone Johannessen Coucheron, who until recently was the leader of the Pensioners’ Party, thinks it is good that over-the-counter drugs are getting cheaper, but not that cheap products are only available in online stores.
Photo: Private
Add an additional cost for help in pharmacies
While the online price test showed a significant difference between the three main chains, it is much smoother when Nettavisen Økonomi checks prices in stores:
Boots sets different prices online and in pharmacies for two of the 15 items: The chain more than doubles the price of the allergy drug Zyrtec in pharmacies to NOK 209.90 (NOK 99 online) and charges 689.90 for OTC Viagra at pharmacies: 40.90 kroner more than online.
However, it is Apotek 1 that distinguishes the most between prices in pharmacies and in online purchases: In all the items in the price comparison, Apotek 1 is cheaper online.
See the full description here:
Apotek 1’s communications consultancy Karina Søby Eidukaitis explains the price difference by saying it would have been difficult for the chain to make a profit in stores if prices had been as low as online.
– You don’t come up with an online or in-store explanation of why there are such different prices. Can you understand that customers may think this is strange or feel cheated?
– Pharmacies should be a low-threshold health service where people live, and we know that many of our clients are concerned about the maintenance of physical pharmacies, says Eidukaitis and continues:
– At the same time that we care about maintaining this offer, we also care about securing the jobs of our pharmacy employees. At our 416 physical pharmacies, customers can meet with nearly 4,000 licensed healthcare professionals without an appointment and receive the guidance they need. We must ensure profitable operations in all units, and we have the experience that our clients understand this, says Eidukaitis.
Consumer Council Issues Director Anne Kristin Vie is not so sure customers understand that there must be different prices in stores and online at the same chains.
– Probably many people can have a high level of confidence in pharmacies, as they also provide medical guidance. But it’s important to remember that, like Coop and Elkjøp, their goal is to make money, says Vie, continuing:
– Therefore, chain stores closely monitor each other’s prices with price spies in stores and bots that follow on websites. This can result in very similar prices, as well as great deals to lure us to the door. The task of the Norwegian Competition Authority is to ensure that the markets are working well and that their work is important for the price.
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Boots and Vitusapotek try to have the same price in both places
In addition to different prices for viagra and allergy medications, Boots has the same prices online and in pharmacies. Anne Margrethe Aldin Thue at Boots says that customers should have the same experience no matter what channel they are on with the chain.
– Here, some competitors have chosen to have a different strategy, and for those players who are primarily online pharmacies, the situation and cost landscape will of course be completely different from those for players who have a significant emphasis on physical pharmacies. We follow this with a pricing strategy closely, and we follow the market closely, as this will be in constant development, says Thue.
Vitusapotek is clearly the most expensive both online and in pharmacy, and ensures that they do not intend to deviate from the strategy of having the same price in both channels. More and more people are ordering products digitally and then picking up the item from pharmacies, rather than having it shipped home.
– Differentiated pricing creates click-and-choose customer confusion and is difficult to handle and communicate in the pharmacy customer meeting. Online and pharmacy price equality is a great example of an element that helps make online shopping and pharmacy trade work better together and on customer terms, says Tonje Kinn at Vitusapotek.
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