Amazon will open its first physical parapharmacy store in Milan. This store will offer a wide range of beauty and personal care products. It will mark a milestone as the first in Amazon's European market and the company's first physical store in Italy.
"Together with our retail partners, we now offer customers across Europe various beauty and personal care products. We are excited to continue working on this initiative and look forward to sharing additional updates with customers in the future," Amazon told Pharmacy Scanner media. It has also been confirmed that this operation will not be related to the pharmaceutical market but will focus solely on retailing beauty and personal care products.
The location selected for the parapharmacy is quite central, as it is in Piazzale Cadorna. The store previously belonged to Pulker, an Italian pharmaceutical chain. This 135 m2 store was acquired earlier this year by a limited partnership called Pellicano Italia, which became owned by Amazon in early March.
Details are yet to be revealed, such as the exact opening date and the name the store will bear.
Amazon's interest in the pharmaceutical sector has been increasing year after year. In 2018, it took its first step by acquiring PillPack, an online pharmacy based in Manchester, New Hampshire. Since then, it has continued to expand its services and penetrate different markets with Amazon Pharmacy, a marketplace division focused on the pharmaceutical sector launched in 2020.
The most recent acquisition was that of Eli Lilly, which will allow the company, founded by Jeff Bezos, to dispense medicines directly to consumers through LillyDirect. The platform launched this home delivery service in January and currently offers 14 medications, including diabetes and migraine treatments. The range of medicines available is expected to expand in the future.
For now, the marketplace will not be able to replicate the moves it is making in other countries with Amazon Pharmacy, as it does not have authorization in Europe to sell medicines, even without a prescription.
