The Rohertragsquote is Rohertrag, meaning turnover less the cost of goods, divided by turnover. It describes what share of the money crossing the counter belongs to the pharmacy rather than to the wholesaler. In practice most owners watch a second version of the same idea, Rohertrag per customer, because the quote as a percentage is dragged around by the prescription mix while the per customer figure follows what happens in the individual encounter.
The reason the two behave differently is the mix of what a pharmacy sells. On a prescription medicine the margin is largely fixed by law, so the pharmacy earns much the same handling margin on a cheap pack and on an expensive one. A run of expensive dispensing lifts turnover and pushes the Rohertragsquote down while the absolute Rohertrag barely moves, which is exactly the distortion that makes the Umsatzrendite hard to read. A service the pharmacy prices itself sits outside that mechanism. There is no fixed margin to inherit, the price is set by the pharmacy within the rules that apply to it, and the Rohertrag is what remains after the consumables and the time.
As an orientation point, Apotheke Adhoc published an interview with Bodo Schmitz-Urban in January 2025 in which he argued that Rohertrag per customer should not fall below 15 euro. That is one adviser's target rather than an official standard, and it depends on the location, the customer structure and the opening hours of the pharmacy in question. It is useful as a question to ask about a trend in one's own numbers, not as a line anyone is graded against.
Read on its own the figure says little. Rohertrag per customer only means something next to Kundenfrequenz, because the same margin spread over fewer visits and the same margin spread over more visits are different businesses. It also has to be read against what the margin has to pay for, which is where the Personalkostenquote comes in, before anything reaches the Betriebsergebnis. A Betriebsvergleich against pharmacies of similar size gives the figure a scale. A priced service adds Rohertrag per customer inside hours already staffed, which is the arithmetic reason it interests owners, though the amount depends entirely on the pharmacy's own price and uptake.
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.
