The Authority Antitrust is investigating potential unfair business practices in the sale of healthcare products and over-the-counter medications through the website. This is the hypothesis that led to the start of an investigation against Farmasave.it. Yesterday, with the support of the Special Antitrust Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, the Authority’s officials carried out inspections in various offices of the International Pharmacy Society by Ciro Cozzolino & CSnc
The reasons for the investigation
The Authority noted that the company would have published information on Farmasave.it potentially false and misleading regarding the immediate availability of the products for sale and delivery or shipping times.
Furthermore, it reports that consumers may have encountered difficulties in exercising their after-sales rights, due to insufficient customer service. In this way, the company may have made it difficult, if not impossible, to exercise the right of change of mind or withdrawal, as well as obtaining the replacement of incorrect or damaged products, or a refund in the event of non-delivery.
The Agcm has started an investigation against Ciro Cozzolino’s Società Farmacia Internazionale of Ciro Cozzolino for alleged incorrect and aggressive behavior in the promotion, delivery and after-sales assistance of parapharmaceuticals and over-the-counter medicines purchased through the Farmasave.it website. Yesterday, the Authority’s officials, supported by the Special Antitrust Unit of the Financial Police, carried out inspections at various company locations.
What is Farmasave
The International Pharmacy Society has its registered office in Florence and its operational headquarters in Ercolano, in the province of Naples, with a staff of 97 employees. Farmasave.it, the online parapharmacy, is the result of “three generations of pharmacists who have been operating in Campania and Tuscany since 1949”, as reported on the site.
The platform offers over 50,000 products, ranging from generic over-the-counter medicines to solutions for those with particular dietary needs, such as diabetics, celiacs and intolerants. The available categories include food supplements, sports products, circulation products, as well as cosmetics, hygiene, homeopathic medicine and wellness.
Increasingly thriving online pharmacy market
Until a few years ago it might have seemed like science fiction, but online pharmacies have been a reality for some time. From the beginning of the pandemic to today, monthly visits to the online stores of pharmacies and parapharmacies are increased on average by 66%, while those to e-commerce in the beauty sector grew by 48%. This data emerges from an analysis conducted by Industry and Sellout Garage, which is based on surveys carried out on 13 portals in the pharma sector.
According to the survey, monthly visits recorded a strong acceleration during the most critical period of the pandemic, followed by a slowdown in 2022 and a recovery in 2023 and 2024. E-retailers, i.e. e-commerce stores of physical brands that continue to obtain the majority of their turnover from traditional sales, have exploited the variety of their catalog to strengthen online presence. Pure players, i.e. sites that derive a large part of their revenue from online sales, have focused on customer loyalty, through significant advertising investments and constant improvement of the shopping experience.
