A Betriebsvergleich places one pharmacy's figures alongside the pooled and anonymised figures of comparable pharmacies, usually grouped by turnover band, by location type and sometimes by whether the pharmacy is a single site or part of a group. The comparisons are run by the Apothekenrechenzentren, by tax advisers specialising in pharmacies and by the Treuhand organisations. Treuhand Hannover, for example, benchmarks roughly 3.500 pharmacies in its Betriebsvergleich as of 2026, which is a large enough pool for the size bands to hold together.
The mechanism is straightforward. The adviser takes the figures already produced for the BWA, normalises the cost lines so that comparable things are counted comparably, and reports where the pharmacy falls in the distribution on each one. What comes back is most useful on the cost side, because that is where the numbers are genuinely comparable. A rent quota, a Personalkostenquote or an energy cost per square metre that sits far outside the band is worth a look, and the comparison is often the only way an owner finds out that a line item drifted.
Where it misleads is in the reading of the middle. Being average in a shrinking sector is not a target. The ABDA Apothekenwirtschaftsbericht published on 5 May 2026 counted 16.541 pharmacy Betriebsstätten at the end of the first quarter of 2026, the lowest number since 1977, and the same ABDA report put the sector Umsatzrendite at 4,2 percent in 2025, down from 4,4 percent in 2024. A pharmacy matching the average on every line is matching a population that is contracting. The comparison tells an owner where they stand relative to others, and says nothing about whether that position is survivable.
The second limitation is that the peer group is built from what is measurable rather than from what is comparable. Two pharmacies in the same turnover band can differ in footfall, in prescription mix, in whether a practice sits upstairs, and in whether the owner draws a market salary. That is why the Rohertragsquote and the Umsatzrendite are worth tracking as one's own trend first and as a ranking second. Where a pharmacy adds a priced service, no peer group carries it yet, so the comparison has nothing to say about it.
This glossary entry is general information about German pharmacy law and practice. It is not legal advice. For binding guidance on your own pharmacy, contact your Landesapothekerkammer.
