Clicks business review

Clicks delivered a highly competitive performance which demonstrated the resilience of its business model, brand strength and the value of the loyal ClubCard membership base.

In the current constrained trading environment, Clicks reported strong growth in private label sales, improved margins, accelerated the store and pharmacy expansion programme, and grew market share across core health and beauty categories.

The performance for the year again reflects management’s consistent focus on Clicks’ strategic pillars of value, differentiation, personalisation and convenience.

Retail sales growth

Sales contribution

Clicks performance against objectives

Sales performance

Pharmacy sales increased by 6.9% despite a muted cold and flu season and significant price reductions in key molecules to align with medical scheme formulary compliance requirements. After an initial delay in opening new pharmacies early in the financial year, the pace accelerated in the second half and a net 60 pharmacies were opened, with 29 opened in the last quarter. ClubCard customers contributed 82.6% of pharmacy sales and Clicks continues to be rated as the first choice pharmacy for South African consumers. These factors contributed to Clicks growing its retail pharmacy market share by 20 basis points to 24.0%.

Front shop health and baby grew by 8.0%. Growth in front shop health was mainly driven by the extension of the healthcare elevation to 138 stores and strong performances in the sports and slimming as well as branded supplements sub-categories.

Clicks entrenched its leading position in the baby category, growing market share by 80 basis points to 23.1%. The Clicks Baby strategy integrates private label and online offerings, specialist baby stores and stores-in-store in Clicks, competitive pricing and Baby ClubCard benefits. The Clicks Baby standalone stores increased sales by 23%, store-in-store sales grew 12% and online sales increased by 27%.

Beauty and personal care grew by 7.4%. Clicks grew sales ahead of the market in the highly competitive beauty environment due mainly to new product launches, the rollout of elevated beauty halls, while high-profile events such as the Beauty Playground confirm Clicks as a destination for beauty.

Personal care grew by 9.8% driven by strong private label sales, promotional sales and innovation in the Oh So Heavenly, Being Kind, Dove and Vaseline product ranges.

Within the beauty category, skincare gained a further 20 basis points in market share to 43.8%, Clicks defended its market-leading 32.8% share in haircare and personal care gained a further 60 basis points to 22.7%.

General merchandise grew by only 4.4% due to the poor performance in small household electrical appliances which contributed to market share declining 40 basis points to 18.7%.

Market share (%)

Offering value

The Clicks customer promise of “feel good, pay less” resonates with all consumers in the current economic environment. The brand offers competitive everyday pricing and appealing promotions, with Clicks being price competitive with all national retailers.

Health and beauty markets are promotionally driven and in the past year promotional sales increased by 12.4% to 47.0% (2024: 44.9%) of turnover, with strong promotional sales growth across all front shop categories.

Value extends beyond price in Clicks. The generous loyalty rewards of the Clicks ClubCard resulted in R855 million being returned to customers in cashback rewards in the past year, bringing the total for the past five years to R3.5 billion.

The brand is also committed to offering patients value through lower-priced generic medicines in Clicks pharmacies to save customers money and extend medical funding benefits. Generic medicines accounted for 59% of sales and 71% of pharmacy volume.

Extending convenience

Clicks expanded its footprint to 990 stores and one UniCare store with the opening of a net 55 new stores. The brand continues to focus on convenience format stores which comprise 77% of the portfolio, with the balance being destination stores. The Clicks footprint includes 58 stores in neighbouring Namibia (26 stores), Botswana (24 stores), Eswatini (6 stores) and Lesotho (2 stores).

Clicks continues to accelerate its presence in lower-income areas and now has 247 stores (24.9% of the total store base) located in areas serving lower-income customers, accounting for 23.7% of retail turnover.

The national pharmacy presence was extended to 780 following the opening of a net 60 pharmacies. The commitment to delivering affordable and accessible healthcare through a convenient pharmacy network is demonstrated by 53.2% of the country’s population now living within a five-kilometre radius of a Clicks pharmacy.

Clicks has developed a specialised 24-hour large pharmacy model under the UniCare brand. M-Kem, the 24-hour pharmacy in the Western Cape acquired in 2023, has been rebranded to UniCare. This UniCare outlet achieved turnover growth of 8.0% in the reporting period, supported by the implementation of an after-hours doctor service together with demand for the wound care, diabetes primary care and intravenous (IV) clinics.

Primary care clinics have been extended to 225 Clicks stores.

The Clicks online store supports customer convenience and has enabled Clicks to enter product categories that are sold online only, including premium beauty, health mobility and baby hardware. Online purchases increased by 15.9% and including “purchases researched online and bought offline”, accounted for 4.1% of front shop sales.

Engaging customers through personalisation

ClubCard is core to the Clicks customer strategy as it provides the mechanism to attract, engage and retain customers by personalising communications and marketing offers through the effective use of data and digital technology.

The iconic ClubCard celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2025 and increased membership by approximately 800 000 over the past year to 12.6 million. Members accounted for 82.6% of sales in Clicks, highlighting the loyalty levels of ClubCard shoppers. The ClubCard extends into other key customer markets, with the Baby ClubCard membership at 745 500 and the Seniors Club at over 1.5 million members.

ClubCard is the most used loyalty programme in South Africa (source: Truth and BrandMapp Loyalty Whitepaper 2025) and integrates rewards, customer engagement and personalisation to reinforce the emotional affiliation of customers to the brand.

Differentiated product offer

Through its differentiation strategy Clicks aims to respond to changes in consumer demographics, preferences and shopping behaviours in the dynamic trading environment.

Private label and exclusive brands offer differentiated ranges across all merchandise categories at competitive prices while increasing customer choice. These products are trusted due to their proven quality and price positioning. The Body Shop and Sorbet product ranges further differentiate the Clicks offer.

Strong demand for private label products contributed to sales growing by 10.7% and contributing 25.9% of total sales. Private label comprises 30.6% of front shop sales and 12.3% of pharmacy sales.

The quality and innovation supporting these private label products was recognised in the SA Product of the Year Awards 2025 where six of our private label products won their respective categories. The winning products were:

Clicks Made 4 Baby pants
Clicks SunProtect face cream
Clicks MyEarth eco wipes
Sorbet smoothing serum
Smudge mascara
Smudge lip gloss

The elevated beauty halls in selected Clicks stores have driven increased sales of the major beauty brands as well as brands exclusively available in Clicks. This new look and feel has been implemented in 44 stores and, based on the positive customer response, will be extended to more stores in the new financial year.

Plans for 2026

Clicks plans to open 40 to 50 stores and 40 to 50 pharmacies in the new financial year and remains committed to expanding its store footprint to 1 200 in the medium term. At least four UniCare specialist pharmacies will be opened.

An investment of R662 million is planned for new stores and pharmacies, while a further 70 – 80 stores will be refurbished or expanded to ensure the stores remain appealing and enticing to customers.

Capital expenditure of R506 million will be invested in retail systems and infrastructure, including the completion of the new pharmacy management system, implementation of the warehouse management system at the Centurion and Durban distribution centres and further investment in solar energy.

The contribution of private label, exclusive and franchise brands to front shop sales is targeted to increase to 31.0% (2025: 30.6%) in 2026 as Clicks continues to innovate and introduce new products.

The ClubCard active membership is targeted to increase to 13 million as Clicks accelerates its personalisation and digital engagement strategy.