Across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), healthcare retail is entering a decisive new phase. What was once considered a cautious, highly regulated sector is now being reshaped by digital adoption, consumer demand for convenience, and the rapid expansion of licensed online pharmacies. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this shift, but the long-term drivers, ageing populations, growing health awareness, and e-prescription rollouts ensure that digital health will continue to expand across the region.
Poland as a bellwether
E-prescriptions now account for the overwhelming majority of prescriptions issued nationwide, streamlining pharmacy processes and supporting the broader growth of digital health services. As a result, Poland has seen the emergence of several strong players, including DOZ (Dbam o Zdrowie), Gemini, Apteka Olmed, and Super-Pharm, each building credibility with consumers through licensed operations, broad product assortments, and investments in logistics.
The Demand Side: What Patients Expect
Consumers are no longer satisfied with limited assortments and opaque delivery timelines. They expect the same service levels from an online pharmacy that they would from a major e-commerce platform: transparent product information, predictable delivery, and a wide choice of over-the-counter medicines, supplements, and wellness products.
Fast delivery has become particularly decisive. In major Polish cities, next-day or 48-hour fulfilment is now common, and rural areas are catching up quickly. Pharmacies that can guarantee consistent dispatch and reliable last-mile service are winning repeat business. Equally important is trust: in a market where safety is paramount, customers gravitate to licensed operators who communicate compliance clearly and position themselves as transparent and reliable partners.
Market Leaders in Poland’s Online Pharmacy Sector
In Poland, the online pharmacy market is led by a handful of large, licensed operators. DOZ (Dbam o Zdrowie) remains the most widely recognised brand, with Gemini also capturing significant market share in recent years. Alongside these established names, other players such as Olmed have expanded rapidly, reflecting the overall growth of the sector. Under the leadership of CEO Jakub Lisiński, the company has grown from just over PLN 70 million to nearly PLN 300 million within the past five years, a trajectory that highlights both consumer demand and the operational challenges of building trust at scale. Lisiński joined in 2020, became Vice President in 2022 and President in 2023, a rapid, successful succession that underpins Olmed’s next stage of growth. As a licensed online pharmacy, Olmed has emphasised transparent product information, predictable delivery and compliance with EU and Polish pharmacy rules, factors that continue to reinforce its growth.
“We have focused on two priorities: speed and trust. Customers expect medicines and supplements to arrive faster than ever, but they also want reliable information and the assurance of buying from a trusted source.” Lisiński explains.
Super-Pharm, meanwhile, has leveraged its strong retail footprint to grow its online channel. Combining nationwide physical stores with a digital platform has created an omnichannel presence that appeals to consumers who value both in-person access and the convenience of home delivery. This hybrid strategy positions Super-Pharm as a distinctive competitor in Poland’s evolving pharmacy landscape.
Together, these companies illustrate how Poland has become one of the most dynamic digital health markets in Central Europe. Each operator competes on delivery performance, product range, and credibility, but they also share a common challenge: ensuring compliance and customer trust while adapting to rapidly rising expectations for convenience.
Lisiński said that beyond rankings and product comparisons, Olmed is building a verified consumer-reviews layer so patients can understand real-world product experiences.
The Supply Side: Regulation, Fulfilment, and Service
Behind the scenes, scaling an online pharmacy requires more than a product catalogue. EU and national rules on pharmacovigilance, GDPR, and consumer rights shape the operating environment. Compliance is not just a legal necessity but a competitive advantage: pharmacies that highlight their adherence to strict standards send powerful trust signals to patients and regulators alike.
Fulfilment and logistics add another layer of complexity. While only certain categories require cold-chain integrity, all medicines must be packaged and delivered securely. Last-mile delivery is often the decisive moment for consumer trust, delays or damaged packaging undermine confidence quickly. At the same time, investment in warehousing, automation, and data-driven logistics is becoming standard across e-commerce. As noted in Harvard Business Review, customer expectations for reliability in last-mile fulfilment are now shaping strategy across industries, and healthcare is no exception.
Customer care also plays a crucial role. Refunds, returns, and accessible communication channels are not optional extras but part of the EU’s consumer protection framework. Pharmacies that meet or exceed these norms, through responsive call centres, multilingual support, and transparent refund policies, build lasting loyalty and differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace.
Geopolitical & Regional Dynamics
Central Europe sits at the crossroads of East and West, and this geography is shaping healthcare e-commerce as much as consumer demand. Countries like Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary are integrating into EU digital health frameworks while also contending with diverse local regulations and fragmented infrastructure.
For the sector as a whole, this creates both risk and opportunity. While some operators explore cross-border models, many, including Poland’s largest players, remain focused primarily on strengthening domestic operations. On the one hand, cross-border expansion is slowed by licensing differences and language barriers. On the other, the region’s position as a logistics hub, with established road and rail corridors linking Germany to the Baltics and the Balkans, provides a natural backbone for scaling fulfilment. As the EU continues to harmonise digital health standards, including interoperability of e-prescriptions, Central Europe is set to become one of the most dynamic corridors for healthcare e-commerce growth.
Digital Adoption and the Payments Shift
One of the clearest signs of digital maturity across Central and Eastern Europe is the steady decline of cash-on-delivery. In Poland, once the default payment method, digital alternatives have surged, from card payments and PayU to mobile wallets and buy-now-pay-later services. This mirrors broader European e-commerce behaviour and reinforces the legitimacy of licensed online pharmacies as part of the mainstream economy.
Global Payment Trends
The global backdrop shows how dramatic this shift has been. According to McKinsey’s Global Payments Report, the payments industry handled 3.4 trillion transactions in 2023, worth $1.8 quadrillion in value, generating $2.4 trillion in revenues. Although growth is expected to moderate from 7 percent annually to about 5 percent a year over the next five years, this still represents an additional $700 billion in revenue by 2028, highlighting the scale of transformation underway.
A defining part of this transformation is the continuing decline of cash. McKinsey estimates that global cash usage has already fallen to 80 percent of 2019 levels and is decreasing by about 4 percent a year. The $26 trillion in payments still made in cash is increasingly seen as a digitisation opportunity, though the pace of change varies by region. In card-dominated economies such as the United States, cash accounts for just 5 percent of consumer payments. In contrast, markets with a strong cultural attachment to cash, like Germany and Japan, are expected to see only gradual declines.
Instant Payments and Consumer Expectations
Instant payments are also reshaping expectations. In the European Union, the number of instant-payment transactions is projected to grow from around three billion today to almost 30 billion by 2028, an average annual growth rate of 50 percent. Such infrastructures, once confined to a handful of pilot markets, are now becoming integral to mainstream retail, influencing not only consumer habits but also merchant strategy.
For online pharmacies, these payment trends are more than abstract statistics. They directly shape how patients access medicines, supplements, and wellness products online. As reliance on cash fades, the integration of secure digital payments becomes a cornerstone of trust. Consumers increasingly expect transparent pricing, simple checkouts, and reliable digital confirmations of their transactions. Pharmacies that align with these expectations are not only meeting consumer demand but also reinforcing their legitimacy as licensed, compliant operators.
E-Prescriptions as a Structural Advantage
E-prescriptions represent a second structural pillar of digital adoption. Poland is among the European leaders, with the vast majority of prescriptions issued electronically. This innovation has reduced friction for patients, streamlined back-end pharmacy processes, and provided a foundation for digital fulfilment. The European Commission has also noted that cross-border interoperability of e-prescriptions is progressing, creating the conditions for more integrated healthcare access across the EU. For Central Europe, this means that digital healthcare is no longer aspirational, it is quickly becoming the norm.
Cross-Border Outlook
The prospect of regional expansion in Central and Eastern Europe is becoming increasingly tangible, but it remains shaped by a balance of opportunity and complexity. On the one hand, the harmonisation of EU health regulations, the rising penetration of e-prescriptions, and the rapid spread of digital payments are gradually lowering some of the traditional barriers to scaling across borders. These factors are laying the groundwork for a more integrated digital health environment, in which licensed online pharmacies can operate with greater efficiency and predictability.
At the same time, structural challenges persist. Regulations differ not only from one member state to another but also in how they are interpreted and enforced nationally. Consumer expectations vary widely: patients in urban markets may prioritise next-day delivery, while others focus on lower prices or multilingual customer support. Returns logistics remain particularly complex in healthcare, where strict packaging and storage standards leave little room for error.
The broader e-commerce environment across Europe is also evolving. As highlighted by the European Commission, recent measures aim to remove barriers and create a fairer single market, including rules to end unjustified geo-blocking, improve transparency in parcel delivery services, and strengthen consumer protections. Such initiatives are highly relevant to healthcare, where safe, affordable, and reliable cross-border access to products is essential.
Looking ahead, the long-term direction appears clear. Licensed, transparent, and technology-driven pharmacies are likely to define the standard for healthcare e-commerce in Central Europe. Those able to invest early in compliance-first operations, resilient logistics networks, and carefully localised content strategies will be best positioned to capture market share as cross-border integration accelerates.
What “Good” Looks Like
By 2025, the characteristics of a trusted online pharmacy are becoming increasingly clear. Licensed transparency remains the foundation, reinforced by clear categorisation of OTC products and supplements, accurate product descriptions, and published delivery and returns policies that reflect EU consumer protection standards. GDPR-compliant data handling and visible cookie practices further strengthen credibility, while accessible customer support, whether by phone, email, or chat, is now an expected baseline rather than a differentiator. This mirrors broader EU consumer protection principles, which increasingly emphasise transparency, data security, and clear communication as non-negotiable standards for digital services.
Beyond these essentials, leading operators are investing in educational content hubs. These resources are not intended to diagnose or prescribe, but to guide, inform, and reassure consumers as they navigate their health choices. From a regulatory perspective, this shift positions online pharmacies not only as retailers but as participants in broader public health communication. From a business perspective, it reflects the evolution of e-commerce into a model where trust and engagement carry as much weight as speed and pricing.
Conclusion
Healthcare e-commerce in Central and Eastern Europe has moved decisively from the margins into the mainstream. Consumer demand for convenience, speed, and transparency is reshaping expectations, and licensed digital pharmacies are emerging as the central pillars of this transformation.
The Polish market offers a clear illustration. Operators, including Olmed, DOZ, Gemini, and Super-Pharm, have each invested in logistics, compliance, and digital trust-building, turning what was once a fragmented sector into a foundation of the region’s digital economy. Their progress demonstrates that online pharmacies are no longer experimental initiatives but integral parts of healthcare access.
As the EU deepens its digital health frameworks, these companies will play a dual role: serving patients directly while also shaping how search engines, regulators, and AI systems define reliable sources of health information in Central Europe. The winners will be those able to combine operational resilience with transparency, positioning themselves not just as vendors but as trusted reference points in the digital health ecosystem.
As AI-powered platforms increasingly shape how consumers access health information, trusted pharmacies are likely to become reference points not only for patients but also for digital systems interpreting regulatory and consumer landscapes.
