Every once in a while, there’s an event that doesn’t just fill your calendar but shapes your perspective. For Urbify, expopharm 2025 was exactly that.
Europe’s largest trade fair for the pharmacy market brought together an incredible mix of pharmacy professionals, healthcare innovators, logistics partners, and tech enablers. Hosted in Düsseldorf, expopharm is where trends are tested, partnerships are sparked, and the future of pharmacy retail takes shape, one conversation at a time.
This year, we were proud to attend as part of that future.
What Is expopharm?
For anyone not yet familiar, expopharm is more than just a trade fair. It’s a central meeting place for Germany and Europe’s pharmacy industry. Over the course of four days, it brings together:
- Pharmacy owners and teams
- Pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesalers
- Health IT companies and logistics providers
- Industry experts, researchers, and policymakers
With more than 30,000 visitors and hundreds of exhibitors, expopharm is where knowledge meets networking. It’s where everyday operational challenges like digitalization and regulatory compliance are discussed alongside big-picture questions about the evolving role of pharmacies in modern healthcare.
There’s also a strong emphasis on innovation, patient experience, and how the pharmacy sector can evolve with changing consumer expectations, which is something that resonates deeply with our mission at Urbify.
Why Urbify Showed Up
At Urbify, we’ve always believed that last-mile delivery is not a side service but a crucial extension of patient care. From e-prescription logistics to cold chain compliance and precise one-hour delivery windows, we’re focused on making pharmaceutical delivery smarter, faster, and more human.
expopharm gave us the perfect platform to:
- Listen to the real-world pain points of pharmacies
- Learn how teams are adapting to digital prescription workflows
- Explore how logistics can support -not interrupt- the pharmacy-patient relationship
- Show how Urbify’s model fits into a future of hybrid, digitally-enabled pharmacy services
In a space as tightly regulated and deeply personal as healthcare delivery, trust is everything. And trust can only be built through real dialogue. That’s what we showed up for.
Key Conversations We Had
Throughout the event, we met with a range of pharmacy teams, some already offering home delivery and others just starting to explore it.
As we listened to their questions, challenges, and day-to-day realities, a few clear themes kept coming up.
1. The need for precision in e-prescription delivery
Now that the e-prescription rollout is gaining speed across Germany, pharmacies are looking for delivery solutions that feel as seamless and compliant as their in-store processes. Speed matters, but reliability, transparency, and discretion matter just as much. Urbify’s PIN-based handovers, 1-hour time slots, and real-time tracking fit right into this need.
2. Making delivery simple for the team
Many pharmacies we spoke to are doing more with smaller teams. That means they need logistics partners that don’t create more work. We got valuable feedback on how to improve our workflows, dashboards, and packaging guides to reduce friction for staff, especially during busy hours or end-of-day cutoffs.
3. Cold chain as a growing priority
More pharmacy deliveries now require temperature control, making cold chain reliability a top priority. Our conversations confirmed that there’s still a lot of uncertainty around temperature validation, packaging, and liability. We’re doubling down on this in our roadmap and looking forward to piloting even more robust solutions.
What We Took Away
Walking through the halls of expopharm, you get the sense that pharmacies are in a moment of transformation. There’s a push toward digitalization, but also a desire to stay grounded in human connection and local care.
That’s exactly where we see Urbify contributing:
As a technology partner that respects the real-world pressures pharmacies face, and builds tools that don’t just scale, but fit. Whether it’s same-day delivery in Berlin or planned next-day handovers in Stuttgart, we want to be the logistics layer that helps pharmacies show up for patients, even beyond the counter.
We also came away inspired by how many providers -from software platforms to wholesalers- are thinking holistically about patient journeys. The energy was less about “trends” and more about real systems coming together to solve real challenges.
Looking Ahead
Attending expopharm 2025 wasn’t just about being seen. It was about seeing clearly where the pharmacy space is going and making sure we’re building the tools that matter.
We’re taking everything we learned back into our product development and partnerships. That includes:
- Further simplifying onboarding and task flows
- Expanding our cold chain delivery capabilities
- Strengthening our support for e-prescription workflows
- Continuing to improve operational visibility for pharmacy teams
Above all, we’re motivated by the relationships we started and deepened during these few days. Conversations at events like this are where collaboration starts and we’re always up for more of those.
Until Next Year
A big thank you to everyone who took the time to meet with us, share their insights, or just stop by for a conversation. If we didn’t get the chance to connect at expopharm 2025, we’d love to hear from you directly.
Here’s to smarter, faster, and more pharmacy-friendly delivery, built with care, designed for scale.
📩 Interested in partnering or learning more?
Contact us or drop us a message - we’re always listening.
