Last winter, I made a novel discovery: a chain drugstore at the entrance of my community had placed a freezer outside, selling ice cream. Selling ice cream in winter, and in a drugstore setting, seemed to me somewhat like "digging one's own grave."

Before long, spring arrived, and the freezer was still there, with even more ice cream varieties. Curious, I walked into the drugstore to take a closer look. Despite my initial skepticism, I was astonished by the freezer and the shelves of other goods behind it, prompting the thought, "I was too narrow-minded."

You wouldn't know unless you looked: this chain drugstore, besides traditional medicines, sold quite a variety of other products—from ice cream to frozen foods, from snacks and candies to personal care and cosmetics...

After buying an ice cream bar and a few bags of frozen items, I chatted with the clerk at the counter, asking about the sales of ice cream. The clerk replied, "Ice cream sales were average in winter, but as the weather warms up, more people are buying, often parents picking up a treat for their kids after purchasing medicine."

When I asked why the store had so many non-pharmaceutical shelves, the clerk said it was because the company wanted to expand its business scope and increase profits.

Selling snacks and other daily necessities in drugstores is novel in China, but common abroad. After researching, I found there's a lot to it.

Foreign drugstores typically sell the following categories beyond medicines, varying by country and region:

In the U.S., besides drugs, health products, and medical supplies, they sell personal care items like ointments, sunscreen, feminine hygiene products, hair dye, and other goods such as health foods (protein bars), pet flea treatments, and greeting cards. Chains like CVS and Walgreens combine drugstores with supermarkets, with a high proportion of non-pharmaceutical items (e.g., cosmetics, daily necessities).

In Japan, drugstores focus on drugstore cosmetics, represented by brands like Shiseido. According to reports, Welcia, Japan's largest drugstore chain, reported in its 2021 financial results that drugstore cosmetics accounted for 16% of annual revenue, with a gross margin of 34.5%. Besides cosmetics, they sell functional foods like liver-protective snacks, which account for 23% of revenue but have a gross margin of only 20.9%.

Some drugstores (like Matsumoto Kiyoshi) theme themselves around "health and beauty," with pharmaceuticals making up only 15%-30% of all categories.

In Europe, taking Germany and the Netherlands as examples, German drugstores strictly separate prescription drugs, while OTC drugs and daily necessities are sold together. Dutch drugstores combine with health food stores (like Holland & Barrett).

In Australia, beyond medicines, drugstores primarily sell health foods like protein powder and nutritional supplements. Revenue relies on government subsidies, with an increasing share of profits from non-pharmaceutical items.

So why do foreign drugstores have such a wide variety of products, seemingly dabbling in everything but medicine?

After gathering information, I found several key reasons:

First, market competition and profit needs.

The pharmaceutical retail industry is highly competitive, but profit margins are limited. According to a report by CNR, a survey in a community in Xingsha District, Changsha, found five chain drugstores densely distributed along a 600-meter street. Relevant data shows that in 2024, about 40,000 drugstores closed, with small and medium-sized chains and new stores being the hardest hit. Listed companies that once expanded aggressively are now "contracting" their fronts, slowing expansion, and exploring new profit models.

Through diversification (e.g., health products, beauty, daily necessities), drugstores can increase non-pharmaceutical sales to 60%-70% of total revenue, compensating for the thin margins on medicines.

Second, consumer demand has changed.

With rapid socioeconomic development and rising living standards, consumers' pursuit of health, beauty, and family well-being has become more diverse, and their expectations for drugstore services have increased. Consumers are no longer satisfied with simply buying medicine; they seek a "one-stop shopping" experience, hoping to find more health-related products and services in drugstores, which places higher demands on drugstores' diversification capabilities.

Finally, policy innovation and industry trends drive this.

Some countries (like the U.S. and Japan) have policies allowing cross-industry operations between supermarkets and drugstores, pushing drugstores to transform into "health and beauty specialty stores." Japan's Matsumoto Kiyoshi proposed: "Drugstores should become bases for resolving life's anxieties," a philosophy that drives diversification. Domestic drugstores are learning from overseas experience, trying models like "drugstore + daily necessities" or "drugstore + coffee," but the proportion of non-pharmaceutical items remains low (e.g., Yixintang's non-drug revenue is only 8.85%).

In summary, the diversification of foreign drugstores is the result of market competition, consumption upgrades, and policy relaxation, aiming to enhance profitability and service value.

So, is this wide range of products unique to one drugstore, or common to all? With this question, I visited several other drugstores near my community and found that scale and location also influence a drugstore's product structure.

A small drugstore in an inconspicuous corner of the community, with a small storefront and low foot traffic, only sold medicines and some simple medical supplies.

In contrast, drugstores with a rich and diverse product range are typically located at community entrances or within about a kilometer, on busy streets, intersections, or near large supermarket chains, and they tend to have larger storefronts.

The sustained operation of multi-category drugstores in China also depends on the corresponding consumer base. According to multiple research data from 2022-2025, domestic drugstore customers' attention to product categories varies as follows:

By age, middle-aged and elderly people dominate, mainly buying chronic disease medications (like antihypertensives, antidiabetics) and medical devices (like blood pressure monitors). The young and middle-aged group is growing, with the 26-45 age group increasing its share and contributing the main sales, focusing on cold medicines, vitamins, and mother-and-baby products (like diapers). By gender, female consumers pay more attention to beauty and skincare, health products, and gynecological medicines; males prefer disease-treatment drugs. Many drugstores are also transforming into multi-scenario outlets, creating "medicine + health + beauty + convenience" multifunctional stores.

For food and beverage brands, entering the drugstore channel is both an opportunity and a challenge.

On the plus side, it can expand incremental markets and enhance brand trust.

As a professional health channel, drugstores can endorse functional foods (like probiotic gummies, vitamin candies), differentiating from traditional channels like supermarkets and e-commerce, and strengthening brand competitiveness. For example, Beoubo sells probiotic gummies through drugstores, leveraging the "professional image" to reinforce the product's health attributes.

Second, drugstores are high-value-added scenarios, with higher unit prices and profits for food and beverage products.

Drugstore consumers are often health-conscious, with clear purchase intentions and higher average transaction values. Food brands can reach precise users through drugstores, such as nourishing snacks for middle-aged and elderly people (like black sesame balls) or beauty products for women (like collagen gummies).

Finally, there are policy benefits for food and beverage FMCG entering drugstores.

With the expansion of the medicine-food homology catalog (adding 9 substances like Codonopsis in 2025), food brands have more room for compliant innovation. For example, Dong-E E Jiao transforms donkey-hide gelatin into snack forms, achieving "medicine-food integration" through drugstore channels, creating more possibilities for brand sales and consumer use.

Despite the many benefits, the challenges of food and beverage FMCG entering drugstores cannot be ignored.

Drugstore settings require foods to highlight functionality or health attributes, making it difficult for ordinary leisure snacks to enter directly. This requires food and beverage brands to strategically adjust their product positioning and efficacy.

Second, operating costs in drugstore channels are relatively high, and consumers are price-sensitive, so food brands must balance cost-effectiveness and profit. For example, some pharmaceutical companies use ODM models to reduce costs (like Baihe Shares OEM for protein powder), but food brands must avoid high prices leading to lower repurchase rates.

The trend of food and beverage FMCG entering drugstores, exemplified by ice cream in drugstores, is a microcosm of brands exploring channel diversification.

Driven by diversified consumption scenarios and behaviors, along with policy benefits, the combination of food and beverage FMCG with drugstores has the potential to open new tracks, but the key to success lies in precisely positioning product value, balancing channel costs, and continuously meeting users' composite needs for "health + convenience." The ultimate direction of this model will depend on whether the industry can find a sustainable profit balance in differentiated competition.