By pre-ordering self-care products and over-the-counter medicines online – to pick up the selected product at the nearest store a short time later – customers can often save money compared to buying directly in store.
SVT Nyheter Småland has compared common non-prescription medicines at several pharmacies – and it differs significantly.
In the clip above: See when SVT’s reporter collects the same product – at a much cheaper price.
For those who do not know this, the pharmacy visit can be much more expensive, for the same product in the same place. When SVT asks questions on the street outside a pharmacy in Växjö, there are also several who feel blown when they realize that they paid more than they really need.
Gustav Thiel from Växjö was advised by a family member to pre-order goods from the pharmacy instead of going directly to the store.
– For those who don’t know about it, it is reprehensible, he says to SVT.
“Feels like you’re blowing people off” – this is how consumers feel about the price difference:
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“For those who don’t know, it’s reprehensible,” says Gustav Thiel, who often orders his self-care products in advance. Photo: SVT
What all pharmacies mention in their justifications for the price difference is that the competition with online pharmacies has pushed prices extremely hard.
When it comes to the online goods that are picked up with express delivery at the pharmacy, the pharmacy has found a kind of hybrid solution, where the customer gets the pricing from the web – but also the personal contact with the pharmacy.
If the customer is not aware of this, two people who enter the pharmacy at the same time may pay completely different prices for the same product.
How do you inform consumers that this option exists?
– We lift the web, but then we don’t talk much about prices. The customer can see that for themselves when they are on the web, Annika Svedberg, chief pharmacist at Apotek Hjärtat.
How do you justify that the same item costs differently then?
– With the fierce competition, we think that the service with express delivery within two hours is a good extra service, even though it is of course not the best business for us.
This is how the pharmacy manager thinks about the price differences.
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“We understand that it becomes strange for customers, and we want the gap to be as small as possible,” says Annika Svedberg, chief pharmacist at Apotek Hjärtat. Photo: SVT
Sweden’s pharmacy association agrees that competition has intensified, especially after the pharmacy market was deregulated. At the same time, they inform about being an active consumer.
– Be aware that this is how the market works and take advantage, says Johan Wallér, CEO of the pharmacy association.
Hear what advice the industry association gives to consumers in the clip below
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– A report like this can inform people that this is how it works, says Johan Wallér, CEO of the pharmacy association. Photo: Arta Tahiri/SVT
This is how SVT has looked at the price difference
We have researched the prices of some of the most common self-care products in a home pharmacy. Prices were compared at the four largest pharmacy chains in Sweden via their websites during week 38, 2024.
SVT has bought an item from each pharmacy: Apoteket Hjärtat, Apoteket, Kronans Apotek and Apoteket Doz.
The price differences on self-care products vary from a few kroner up to 20 kroner or more.
In the feature above, we have compared the prices of the following products: Alvedon pain reliever (paracetamol), Pronaxen NSAID (naproxen), Otrivin nasal spray (xylometazoline) and Loratadine Orifarm antihistamine (loratadine).