- Business
- Clicks Group Limited operates as a leading South African healthcare retailer and pharmaceutical wholesaler through its two primary segments: Retail and Distribution. In the Retail segment, the company offers pharmacy, health, and beauty products via approximately 990 Clicks-branded stores and 780 in-store pharmacies targeting middle- to upper-income consumers; mother and baby products including hardware, accessories, health items, foods, diapers, wipes, and toiletries under the Clicks Baby brand; beauty therapy, grooming, and ethnic hair care through 190 franchised and 14 company-owned Sorbet salons; specialized clinics such as diabetic, travel, and wound management under the M-KEM brand, now rebranded as the UniCare 24-hour large pharmacy format; and naturally inspired beauty products under The Body Shop franchise; it also provides an extensive private label range contributing nearly 26% of front shop sales alongside the ClubCard loyalty program with 12.6 million members driving over 82% of Clicks sales. The Distribution segment, operated by United Pharmaceutical Distributors (UPD), supplies a full range of pharmaceutical products to retail pharmacies, private hospitals, dispensing doctors, and health stores, alongside bulk distribution services to manufacturers, achieving managed turnover of R30.5 billion. Founded in 1968 and headquartered at the corner of Searle and Pontac Streets in Cape Town, South Africa, the company, listed on the JSE since 1996, maintains approximately 20,100 employees and operates stores in neighboring Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Namibia.
Recent developments include accelerating store and pharmacy expansion with 55 net new Clicks stores and 60 new pharmacies in the year ended August 2025, advancing toward a medium-term target of 1,200 stores and increasing retail pharmacy market share to 24.0%; launching the UniCare network with the 2023 M-KEM acquisition rebranded as the first site, planning two greenfield locations and two acquisitions in fiscal 2026 alongside a medium-term goal of 10 to 15 UniCare pharmacies; growing Clicks Baby sales across standalone stores by 23%, store-in-store by 12%, and online by 27% to achieve 23.1% category market share; enhancing private label sales by 10.7% with six products winning SA Product of the Year Awards 2025; introducing South Africa's first zero-emission, pharma-compliant electric delivery fleet of 42 solar-powered refrigerated vehicles at UPD in partnership with Everlectric and Investec Sustainable Solutions, with 40 more planned; and expanding the group executive team to eight members for leadership succession amid R1.3 billion annual capital investment over three years.