Migros enters the pharmacy business
Migros is expanding its range of healthcare products and services by cooperating with the mail-order pharmacy Zur Rose. A first shop-in-shop branch will open in Bern in 2017.
Migros will integrate a pharmacy into its store on Marktgasse in Berne on a trial basis from summer 2017. This will be run by the mail-order pharmacy Zur Rose, which has so far mainly been active in online retailing.
For Migros, the shop-in-shop concept is a first: for the first time in its history, it is allowing a third-party company to permanently use its store space for business purposes. The cooperation is also a novelty for Zur Rose, as the company was previously active primarily in medical wholesale and online retailing. However, Zur Rose has maintained a stationary pharmacy in Steckborn (TG) since its founding days. In addition, the company has been present at Welle 7 in Bern since August 2016.
The concept with the integrated Zur Rose pharmacy includes a full range of prescription and over-the-counter medicines. Other pharmacy items are also sold, including cosmetics, for example. The same conditions apply to the entire range as in the mail-order pharmacy. Prices are thus on average twelve percent below the usual market price in Switzerland.
Migros launches health initiative
The cooperation with Zur Rose is part of Migros' healthcare initiative. As part of the initiative, Migros has already acquired Medbase and Santémed. Both institutions offer outpatient primary care, specialist medicine and therapy services. While Santémed additionally specializes in outpatient surgery, Medbase's strengths lie primarily in sports medicine.
With its brands "Zur Rose" and "DocMorris", the Swiss Zur Rose Group is, according to its own information, Europe's largest online pharmacy and also a leading medical wholesaler in Switzerland. (ah)
