Drugstores are gaining visit share from traditional supermarkets

Within the food & drug market, the visit share of drugstores has been rising over the past two years. That points to a real shift in visit share: away from traditional supermarkets, towards drugstores.

• The visit share of drugstores rises from 12.6 percentage points to 14.2 percentage points, an increase of 1.6 percentage points
• At its peak it reaches 15.9 percentage points, an increase of 3.3 percentage points

At first glance these figures look modest, but that is misleading. This is a clear, measurable shift within an enormous market: the full German food & drug market covers hundreds of millions of store visits per month. A shift of more than one percentage point in visit share therefore represents a considerable volume of visits.

Important to note: this momentum flattened out sharply in 2026. Across the whole of 2025, drugstores consistently gained visit share or held their position. From the start of 2026, however, that market position erodes, with a stabilisation in the last two months.

The December effect: a peak in December, a hangover in January

Over the past two years a strong seasonal pattern stands out. In December there is almost always an increase in visit share for drugstores, making December their best month of the year relative to supermarkets. This is followed by a pronounced dip in January, immediately their weakest month relative to supermarkets.

The strong increase in December is largely attributable to Christmas shopping. Consumers who are out buying gifts more often pop into a drugstore along the way. They do this for their own personal care products such as shampoo, or for end-of-year gifts such as make-up. That also explains the "hangover" in January: anyone who already made their personal care purchases in December does not need to do so again at the start of the year. On top of that, the typically aggressive promotions in December play a role. dm and Rossmann, for example, both run a digital advent calendar with daily deals in their app.

Growth is driven by more unique visitors and a higher visit frequency to dm and Rossmann

Average visit frequency diverged by retailer over the past two years. dm (+0.2) and Rossmann (+0.1) gained visit frequency, while Müller (-0.1) and Budni (-0.2) lost ground. The growth we are seeing is therefore driven by two factors: an increase in the share of unique visitors (fraction of visitors) and, at dm and Rossmann, a higher visit frequency. The share of unique visitors is the percentage of distinct individual consumers who visited a retailer at least once within the analysis period.

If we analyse the fraction of visitors in more depth for the four chains, it turns out to be driven almost entirely by the two market leaders:

• dm: 29.1% → 32.5% (+3.4 percentage points)
• Rossmann: 26.0% → 29.5% (+3.5 percentage points)
• Müller: 9.4% → 10.0% (+0.6 percentage points)
• Budni: 1.6% → 1.8% (+0.2 percentage points)

 

Regional growth: broadly carried, but not equally strong everywhere

Regionally, the figures tell the same story as they do nationally: dm in the lead, Rossmann close behind, and Müller with varying success by region. Budni is too regional and is therefore not included in the analysis. The fact that growth is unevenly distributed does not change the direction: drugstores are gaining visit share in every region. A few observations:

• dm: the largest increase is in Hessen (+2.3 percentage points). dm does not lose visit share in any region; its weakest development is +0.0 percentage points.
• Rossmann: the largest increase falls in Bremen (+1.7 percentage points). Even in Rossmann's worst region, Hamburg, it keeps growing (+0.2 percentage points).
• Müller: the strongest region is Saarland (+0.5 percentage points), markedly less than the market leaders. In Baden-Württemberg, Müller even loses −0.2 percentage points.

The advance of the drugstores is therefore playing out across every region, but not equally strongly everywhere. At Müller we see both increases and decreases regionally: their growth is limited and varies by region. At the market leaders the movement is unambiguous: both dm and Rossmann gain visit share or remain stable in every region.