dm and Rossmann, the two heavyweights on the German drugstore market, are dividing up the country. After the Schlecker bankruptcy in 2012, there are basically no more serious competitors. Müller is another player operating throughout Germany, albeit with a more varied product range. There are also a number of regional companies. Let’s first take a look at the key data of the two drugstore chains.
dm – a global player
dm was founded in 1972 in Karlsruhe in the legal form of a GmbH & Co. KG legal form. With 4,100 shops and 90,000 employees, dm has since become the largest drugstore chain in Europe and the third largest drugstore chain in the world. dm is represented in the following countries in addition to Germany:
- Austria
- Poland
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
- Hungary
- Slovenia
- Croatia
- Serbia
- Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Romania
- Bulgaria
- North Macedonia
- Italy
In China, dm entered into a joint venture with Alibaba in 2016.
Products
dm Germany, like its competitors, also offers food products in addition to the traditional drugstore segment. However, the company limits itself to organic and sustainable products.
With a total of 21 own brands, which in turn cover around 2,000 items, the best known of which is probably ‘Balea’, dm generates around 30 per cent of its sales.
Rossmann – number two after the Schlecker closure
Rossmann and dm were founded at virtually the same time. Rossmann was also founded as a limited company in Burgwedel in 1972. The Lower Saxony-based company also operates internationally. The 2,655 shops and 25,000 employees outside Germany are located at
- Poland
- Hungary
- Czech Republic
- Turkey
- Albania
- Denmark
- Kosovo
- Azerbaijan
- Spain
- Switzerland
However, 40 per cent of the company shares have been controlled by the Chinese holding company CK Hutchinson Holdings Ltd since 2002.
Even if Rossmann is not entirely free of criticism – price fixing with Melitta, employment of staff from subcontractors who in turn belong to Rossmann GmbH – there have also been positive results from third parties. In a study for Forbes, Statista listed Rossmann among the 50 best employers worldwide (World’s Best Employers) in 2021.
Products
Rossmann is well ahead of dm in the private label segment. Around 21,000 products are bundled and sold under 29 own brands. The best-known own name is probably the Isana body care range. Rossmann’s products are very sustainable. They have been rated ‘good’ or ‘very good’ over 600 times by Öko-Test and Stiftung Warentest.
Rossmann with a stronger trend towards the food segment
In contrast to dm, Rossmann is increasingly focussing on food. In the food segment, however, an ecological approach clearly applies. Only organic food is sold. The products are labelled enerBiO and all carry the organic, Naturland and Bioland seals. In contrast to dm, Rossmann also offers a rather unusual product for a drugstore. Rossmann has been steadily expanding its range of wines since 2000. These are not ‘trash wines’, but wines with a solid price-performance ratio.
Key data raises questions
If we look at the three comparative figures of number of shops, employees and sales volume, things get interesting. dm generates 26 per cent more sales with 92 per cent of the shops available to Rossmann and 30 per cent more employees. The huge surplus of employees could – but unfortunately cannot be proven – be based on a different employee structure. It is possible that dm relies more heavily on mini-job workers while Rossmann favours full-time employees. However, how the company manages to work out this sales advantage remains a secret for the management.
