GANDT Fireside Chat #051 | E-Commerce Update Q2 and Digitization Health Sector

True to our motto “Working Out Loud”, we at GANDT Ventures exchange our thoughts and ideas on current news topics in the world of online marketing, digital retail, and e-commerce. This helps us uncover opportunities that can be used for companies and our clients as part of our daily business.

But most of all, it is a lot of fun and a great way to share knowledge.
Our podcast-style chats are available to anyone who is interested to find out more about what Google, Facebook, Amazon and the likes are up to.

Update on e-commerce industry figures in the first half of 2020

The German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bevh) has now published a market study on the development of online retail in the first half of 2020.

The study shows that items for daily use such as food, medicines and drugstore products or animal supplies have enabled online retailers to grow sharply since the beginning of the year.

As we had already reported, even the e-commerce industry in Q1 had to deal with the consequences of the Corona pandemic. However, with an increase of 51.2 percent in the second quarter, online retail quickly recovered and returned to normal growth levels.

An interesting point in this context is that, according to a survey by the online advertising network Criteo, just over a third of respondents say that they ordered from a smaller shop during the Corona crisis for the first time- and that they did not know before. For the younger target group, this figure is as high as 41.

In the future, just over one in two (53.6%) will continue to order more online due to the experience of the Corona crisis. In concrete terms, 21.6% want to order more food online in the future.
Thus, it can be assumed that growth in e-commerce will actually receive a sustainable boost.

Not really surprising are the losing industries in e-commerce: Travel and events have plummeted to minus 71.6 percent. The crisis had also led to a significant decline in the clothing category and the slump in sales figures could not yet be fully compensated for on a six-month basis.

Digitalization in the healthcare sector – Online pharmacies as winners

Online pharmacies are among the biggest winners in the Coroana crisis. Digital purchasing of medicine, dietary supplements as well as beauty and health products is becoming increasingly popular and this is confirmed by current figures.
According to preliminary calculations, the Shop Apotheke was able to increase its sales by 42 percent to EUR 233 million.
The number of active customers has also increased enormously, with an increase of half a million new customers in just one quarter (Q2 2020).

Digitization is also making its way into the healthcare sector, in the form of medical consultations via telephone and video, as well as the issuance of electronic prescriptions and AU certificates. Patients and customers can then be forwarded directly to the online pharmacies and thus digitize the entire handling of prescriptions.

The European market leader in online pharmacies Zur Rose AG is also posting positive growth figures – and is now even taking over the shipping and diabetes activities of the German Apotal Group. With the acquisition, an estimated 1.1 million additional customers are expected to move from Apotal to the Zur Rose Group.

Compared to our neighbouring countries, we still have to catch up in Germany with regard to digital measures in the healthcare sector.

Listen to our Fireside Chat and find out how other countries have been working with electronic recipes for several years and what opportunities in e-commerce can be gained as a result!

Agenda | GANDT Fireside Chat Video #051