Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Pharmacy Market in Poland

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased demand for medicines and hygienic personal care products. The increase in demand for medicinal products should increase the turnover of pharmacies. It was therefore hypothesised that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic caused shocks to the pharmacy market in Poland. The aim was to identify and determine the nature of the shocks to the pharmacy market in Poland and compare them to the period before the pandemic. The subject of the study was the value of sales in open pharmacies in Poland in the years 2010–2021. To identify shocks and verify the hypothesis, an automatic TRAMO-SEATS procedure was used. The results obtained unequivocally confirmed the hypothesis, with the changes being more visible when analysing the value of total sales in open pharmacies expressed in current prices rather than in constant prices. The shocks were the result of increased demand for medicines and hygienic personal care products resulting from panic in the face of an unprecedented threat such as SARS-CoV-2.