I was a little bit surprised when I just recently learned that the by Swedish state owned monopoly pharmacy “Apoteket” has started to sell what they call “sex and lust products”. Without arguing for the use or not of sex toys, I cannot completely relate these types of products to pharmaceuticals. Therefore I think Apoteket is taking advantage of their position of being a monopolist. They clearly have a good flow of customers due to being the only shops in Sweden allowed to sell pharmaceuticals. Now they will compete with a lot of small local businesses and maybe in the future bring these out of business due to the monopolist Apoteket having a better flow of customers and more purchasing power.
This, I would say fairly bold move by Apoteket, will also put new demands on their personnel. The shop staff must now be able to with good confidence argue for pro’s and con’s of the new items. Initially, I really doubt that all shop staff will be fully comfortable with that task. For the purchasing department they will have to learn the customer requirements and, competitors and the supplier market.
A clear advantage with this new product range is that it will make many people happier and who knows, maybe in a year or two, Apoteket has adapted to their competitors with more flexible opening hours and maybe even has dark windows and soft lighting.
