Where ePharma Is Heading

A Full-Fledged Sales Channel

Online has become an important part not only of the food or apparel market, but also of pharmaceuticals. The pharmacy segment here is developing according to the same logic as the rest of e-commerce: customers are used to searching for products online, comparing prices, placing orders in advance, and choosing a convenient pickup method.

By the early 2020s, this channel had already become quite significant. For instance, by the end of 2019, an online pharmacy—Apteka.ru—entered the ranks of Russia's largest online retailers for the first time: its online sales volume then reached 34.2 billion rubles. For comparison, the rating leader, Wildberries, exceeded 210 billion rubles.

In subsequent years, online only strengthened its position. By 2025, pharmacy e-commerce—combining medications and parapharmaceuticals—reached about 367 billion rubles, and its share stood at 15.9% of the market. The largest players in remote ordering, according to DSM Group data, are Apteka.ru (volume—120.3 billion rubles, +31% year-on-year), Uteka (45.1 billion rubles, +85%), and Zdravsiti (35.1 billion rubles, +31%). In total, online trade turnover in the pharmaceutical industry grew by nearly 30% over the year.

However, this growth is largely driven by a redistribution of sales channels—from traditional retail toward online. As noted by Evgeny RuzheynikovEvgeny Ruzheynikov, CEO of the health marketplace Zdravsiti, overall consumption shows negative dynamics, so what's happening reflects a change in sales structure rather than real market growth in physical terms.

"This result is connected not only with changing user behavior patterns, when it becomes more comfortable to select and buy products on a smartphone or website, but also with the desire to save money amid inflationary pressures—online pharmacies today offer a wide range of mechanisms for more advantageous purchases."

Pandemic Consequences

However, it's worth noting that for a long time, full-scale remote drug sales (with home delivery) remained unregulated. The idea of legalizing online sales of over-the-counter medications had been discussed since 2017, but its adoption was delayed due to disputes over delivery: pharmacy chains insisted that medications should be delivered by employees with pharmaceutical training, while internet companies advocated for broader use of the standard courier model.

The turning point came in spring 2020: against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, a decision was made to legalize remote sales of over-the-counter medications with home delivery, and the market received the legal framework it had previously lacked. Moreover, drug delivery can be carried out not only by pharmacy staff but also by regular couriers, as long as the temperature regime during transportation is maintained. The first to receive this opportunity were 20 pharmacy chains, but gradually the number of companies with corresponding permits grew.

However, the impact of this decision on the market model itself shouldn't be overestimated. Akop VarpetyanAkop Varpetyan, Director of Development at ASNA Group, notes that the main format for online purchases in the industry is Click & Collect: order and pick up right at the pharmacy. And after 2020, the situation hasn't changed: door-to-door delivery still accounts for a small share of total online sales.

"Why? High logistics costs plus service fees from intermediaries, while markup on pharmacy goods is low. So you can't give the consumer a financial advantage. On the contrary, they overpay significantly for the service when there are already plenty of pharmacies around."

Growth That's Near Its Limit

After online has taken a significant place in pharmacy retail, the question arises about the limits of its further growth. The main potential remains tied to the over-the-counter segment, but even here the market, judging by industry participants' assessments, is gradually approaching saturation.

Managing Partner at RAYS Consulting and founder of the Farmanalitika channel network Andrey Ryabkov believes that the potential of this segment isn't yet exhausted, although in major cities the market has already approached saturation. According to his estimates, in Moscow the share of online OTC drug sales consistently exceeds 20%, while in the regions it only reached 16% in the first quarter of 2026.

"Speaking in numbers, I think the limit for the share over the next 3 years is 25% across Russia as a whole, including Moscow."

A similar assessment was given in a conversation with Argument Media by Akop VarpetyanAkop Varpetyan. According to him, in Moscow and other major cities, online can already be considered a familiar part of pharmacy consumption: its share there is around 20–30% of retail revenue. In the regions the situation is more heterogeneous, but in the long term, the expert believes, they will gradually catch up to the capital's level.

At the same time, Varpetyan is also skeptical about the scenario of endless growth for the online channel.

"The market is saturated, supply is everywhere. In my subjective view, there could be a reverse correlation when the online channel starts to shift from an unprofitable battle for customers to a profitable channel for pharmacy retail."

He associates this scenario primarily with the rising cost of service. As delivery costs and associated fees increase, buyers' price sensitivity will only intensify. In Varpetyan's opinion, a similar process is already visible in grocery retail, where delivery costs in many cases have approached the psychological threshold beyond which consumers are no longer willing to pay.

At Uteka, they take a noticeably more optimistic view: in the company's opinion, the pharma e-commerce market could grow by roughly another factor of two from current levels. Meanwhile, Uteka's press service told Argument Media that growth rates in 2026 are already slowing compared to previous periods, partly due to external macroeconomic factors.

Prescription Drugs Didn't Become the Next Step

While pharmacy online has already found a working model in the over-the-counter segment, this hasn't yet happened for prescription drugs. The experiment with remote sales of prescription medications, launched on March 1, 2023 in Moscow, Moscow Region, and Belgorod Region, ultimately showed minimal results: over three years, about 9,700 orders were placed, and only a portion of them were actually delivered.

For a market of this scale, that's an almost negligible volume. Moreover, the experiment's weak results are explained by several reasons at once—from technical limitations to the very everyday logic of buying medications.

Andrey Ryabkov cites among the main constraints the absence of a nationwide electronic prescription format and the unresolved problem of patient identification. Even where the remote model is formally permitted, the question remains how to reliably verify that the medication is being received by the person for whom it was prescribed: a passport upon receipt isn't always available, and phone verification, in his words, doesn't provide sufficient guarantee.

Indeed, according to data from the Ministry of Health, in Moscow, which accounted for over 90% of all orders, only a quarter were actually delivered, and the most common reason for refusal (32%) was the inability to present a passport upon receipt.

Additionally, Ryabkov connects the experiment's weak results to the very everyday logic of buying medications. In major cities where pharmacies are densely located, such remote ordering of prescription drugs doesn't give the buyer an obvious advantage in either time or convenience.

"The distribution of pharmacies now is such that one building can house three pharmacies 'door to door,' where essentially there are no queues. Every urban resident in Moscow and any city with a million-plus population encounters several conveniently located pharmacies on the route from home to work with the ability to purchase goods—often without a prescription or simply by showing a prescription on their phone."

Akop Varpetyan, in turn, connects the segment's weak prospects to the very design of the user scenario. In his assessment, prescription online remains too complex and inconvenient compared to the familiar pharmacy purchase. Furthermore, there are constraints from the medical community's side as well.

"The medical community is objectively overloaded and isn't eager to burden itself with yet another bureaucratic process like issuing electronic prescriptions."

Evgeny Ruzheynikov points out that demand for prescription assortment as such does exist among online players: prescription drugs account for over 50% of Zdravsiti's sales structure. However, under current restrictions, this demand is realized not through home delivery but primarily through pickup. In other words, it's not about a lack of interest in prescription medications, but about the fact that the market hasn't yet been able to turn this interest into a convenient and mass-market remote purchasing model.

"If the service starts working on a 'one-click' principle, volumes will grow many times over. All the infrastructure for this exists. Just like everywhere else in e-commerce, prescription drug delivery will acquire its 30-35% market share."

An additional barrier remains the experiment's coverage itself. It applied only to a limited number of participants, meaning that for consumers the new format was initially unavailable at every familiar chain. As reported when summarizing the experiment's preliminary results, in 2025, for example, Roszdravnadzor issued only one new permit for remote trade. This approach narrowed the model's application even before deeper constraints—from infrastructure to delivery costs—began to work.

The Future Belongs to Ecosystems

If the prescription segment hasn't yet become the next growth stage, that doesn't mean pharmacy e-commerce opportunities are exhausted. As in any other industry, it's no longer just about selling goods, but about services that emerge around that purchase.

Evgeny Ruzheynikov connects the market's further development precisely to this direction. According to him, given the narrowing opportunities of the population's purchasing power, the pharmacy segment has no obvious growth incentives, so additional services are beginning to play an increasingly important role—from scheduling tests and online consultations to patient support programs. In this logic, pharmacy online becomes not just a sales channel, but an entry point to a broader set of health-related services.

This scenario looks all the more likely since other growth trajectories are already limited. Mass home delivery remains expensive, the prescription segment is complex from a regulatory standpoint, and pharmacy pickup has already become the market's main model. Therefore, further development will likely be connected not with expanding online sales as such, but with restructuring services around them.