According to the latest survey data from the pharmaceutical consulting firm Kaske Group cited by the German "Handelsblatt", Amazon has quietly become Germany's largest online sales platform for over-the-counter drugs and health products. By 2025, Amazon's sales in the German over-the-counter drug sector are expected to reach 2.5 billion euros, with a market share of 43%, surpassing for the first time the two major listed online pharmacy companies in Europe - Redcare Pharmacy (with a market share of about 20%) and DocMorris (16.3%), firmly occupying the first place in the market.

This study is the first to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the sales data of approximately 7.6 million health-related items on the Amazon.de platform, covering a variety of products such as pain relief ointments, Omega-3 capsules, and vitamin supplements. The results show that Amazon's actual sales scale is much higher than the previously estimated market size of 300 to 500 million euros. Retail experts point out that Amazon has established a leading advantage almost without large-scale advertising, which is largely due to the participation of a large number of third-party sellers. Currently, about 1,000 pharmacies are registered as Amazon sellers and can sell products requiring a pharmacy license, with sales reaching hundreds of millions of euros.

The total size of the German online market for over-the-counter health products and drugs is approximately 5.8 billion euros. Amazon's success is mainly attributed to its huge customer base, convenient delivery network, and rich product choices. However, this dominant position has also raised concerns about increased dependence on the platform - many traditional pharmacies are increasingly relying on Amazon channels for sales. At present, Amazon has not yet entered the German prescription drug market, which has a scale of about 60 billion euros but only 2% of sales are online. The industry believes that there is huge room for growth in the prescription drug field in the future. If regulatory policies are relaxed, Amazon is expected to replicate its success in the over-the-counter drug market and further disrupt the German pharmaceutical retail landscape.