Parapharmacy: a market to conquer

Oct 1

5 min read

Between pharmacies, mass retail chains and specialist websites, parapharmacy has become one of the most contested markets in retail. Dermocosmetics, food supplements, hygiene: these are categories everyone now wants a piece of, with very different strategies depending on the player. A closer look at what each player is doing to stand out.

A very dynamic market

The French parapharmacy market is worth 7 billion euros today¹, with an average annual growth rate of 5% expected through 2030². A dynamic driven in particular by food supplements, which have been growing strongly for several years.

7 billion €

Revenue of the French market in 2025

+5% /year

Average growth through 2030

Yet this market remains highly concentrated in a single channel: pharmacies capture 69% of sales by value, against 19% for independent parapharmacies and only 12% for mass retail, through its shop-in-shops and corners in hypermarkets and supermarkets¹. A split that explains why every player is now fighting to gain ground, each with very different means.

The driving force of pharmacies

To sustain their growth and face competition, pharmacies need to attract and retain customers. And parapharmacy products do exactly that: at Pharmabest, parapharmacy can account for up to 70% of sales in the network's largest stores, a return that allows the chain to invest in medical care³.

That is pharmacies' real strength: advice. 95% of customers hold a very favourable opinion of their pharmacist³, a store of trust that mass retail cannot easily replicate.

But on their parapharmacy shelves, pharmacies are also increasingly borrowing retail's playbook, particularly through their own-label ranges, which are more and more positioned around naturalness. Across pharmacy groups as a whole, 78% already have a private-label food supplement range, and 67% a dermocosmetic range⁴. At EvoluPharm, half of private-label products carry the Ecocert seal⁵. At Giphar, private labels account for 5% of sales on average, rising to 15% on certain segments such as food supplements, a category that sells 50% through pharmacies and is dominated by the sleep segment (35.5% market share)⁴. Pharmacie Lafayette, for its part, offers 700 references across 14 brands and eleven categories, including incontinence, hair care and children's cosmetics⁶.

Even at the level of a single pharmacy, the trend holds true: at the Truchtersheim cantonal pharmacy, Xavier Schneider has offered products under his own brand for ten years. For him, dermocosmetics is one of the best-performing categories: his own-label range has become the third best-selling dermo range in his pharmacy⁴.

Mass retail strikes back

Faced with pharmacies' dominance, mass retail chains are reworking their concept to boost their appeal. Carrefour is a good example: the retailer is aiming to double its market share within 3 years, and is expanding its parapharmacy spaces accordingly, from 120 m² to 300, or even 500 m², in some hypermarkets⁷.

*"Trending picks" shelf in a Carrefour parapharmacy*

This investment is not limited to physical space. Carrefour is also working on its range, showcasing innovations and selecting products based on their social proof (social media, in particular), to capture trends as close as possible to their emergence.

Other chains are already showing solid results on this front. E.Leclerc's parapharmacy concept has existed for 36 years and today spans 302 stores, for close to 580 million euros in revenue (+7.8%)⁸. The chain generated significant coverage in 2025 for the opening of its 300th parapharmacy in Châteaudun, with a team of 5 specialists and services such as skin diagnostics and interactive kiosks, alongside its standard range of food supplements, premium cosmetics and hygiene products⁹.

E-commerce: a French lag that is closing

On the digital channel, its European neighbours. According to a statement by the head of Santédiscount (now Atida), online penetration of parapharmacy stood at between 5 and 7% in France, against 20% in Germany or the United Kingdom in 2021¹⁰.

But the trend is reversing, and these tools are reaching parapharmacy too. The Leadersanté group has offered a mobile app since 2019 that allows, among other things, click and collect ordering of parapharmacy products. It is now used by 440 pharmacies, up 20% between 2024 and 2025, for 75,000 users¹¹.

At national level, "Ma Pharmacie en France", a digital portal launched in May 2025 by Federgy (the French union of pharmacy groups) and La Poste, offers online sales of parapharmacy products alongside non-prescription medicines and medical devices. The scheme is entering its pilot phase in 2026 in around fifty pharmacies¹².

A shared challenge remains for all these players: recreating online the advice that makes the in-store counter so strong. This is precisely the ground on which the battle for digital will be fought in the years ahead.

Recreating advice online: the central challenge of digital

Whether in a pharmacy, a mass retailer or on a specialist e-commerce site, shoppers buying a parapharmacy product need to be guided. Food supplements, dermocosmetics, hygiene: these are categories where choice can quickly become complex without support, which largely explains why French shoppers remain so attached to their pharmacist.

This is exactly the challenge Matcha already helps address in other product categories that share the same purchase complexity, and in particular in certain parapharmacy categories: oral care, body care and skincare. With Léa Nature, on skincare, the product recommendation solution has been deployed on Intermarché and Carrefour Drive to guide shoppers according to their needs and help them build their skincare routine. The results speak for themselves: close to 30% of skincare shoppers use the solution, with cross-selling reaching 6 to 9% of revenue depending on the journey, against 2 to 5% on average for other categories. A performance that translates into an average order value up 23% compared with the average Intermarché Drive basket, the best result recorded to date among beauty categories.

A dynamic that could well apply to parapharmacy as a whole, a market where the need for advice has never been stronger, whatever the distribution channel.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/f138f6_c8bd66bf2502470399dafaa31b233c9d/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Demo of the Advisor Skincare solution, developed by Matcha in partnership with Léa Nature

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the parapharmacy market attract so many different players?

The market is worth 7 billion euros and is growing by 5% a year, driven in particular by food supplements. This dynamic attracts both pharmacies, which find in it a growth driver to fund their medical activity, and mass retailers, which are looking to diversify their range into higher-margin categories.

How are pharmacies strengthening their lead over mass retail?

By drawing on their historic strength, advice, which builds strong customer trust, and by borrowing retail's playbook on their parapharmacy range, particularly through own-label products increasingly positioned around naturalness.

How can the online parapharmacy shopping experience be improved?

The main challenge for digital, across every channel, is recreating online the level of advice offered at the counter. Product recommendation solutions help guide shoppers according to their needs, on parapharmacy categories with complex purchase journeys such as body care, skincare or oral care.

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