There are years that reward ease, and then there are years that ask for character.
2025 was not gentle. It did not unfold according to hopeful forecasts or early optimism. It demanded discipline, patience, and a deep belief in fundamentals. And yet, in that tension between pressure and purpose, Clicks Group stood firm. Steady. Intentional. Quietly powerful.
This year did not just test the business. It also marked a moment that speaks to legacy, endurance, and relevance. A 57-year-old South African retailer hits the 1,000 store milestone, and does so not by drifting from its roots, but by standing more firmly in them.
This is a moment worth pausing for. Not just to applaud the numbers, but to honour the leadership, people, and values that carried the business forward when conditions were anything but forgiving.
Holding Steady When the Ground Shifts
What stands out most in Bertina Engelbrecht’s Chief Executive Officer report is not bravado, but clarity.
There is honesty in acknowledging that the improved trading environment many hoped for simply did not arrive. No gloss. No deflection. Just truth. From that truth, a stronger story emerges. One of a business that understands itself deeply.
Clicks did not chase reinvention for its own sake. Instead, it leaned into what it does best. Value, trust, accessibility, and relevance. In a constrained environment, customers responded not to noise, but to consistency. That consistency delivered.
Market share gains across core health and beauty categories are not accidental. They are the reward for decades of knowing your customer and refusing to drift away from them when times get tough. As a value retailer, Clicks remains deeply aligned to everyday realities, meeting customers where they are rather than where trends suggest they should be.
A Thousand Stores, Built One Relationship at a Time
Clicks has opened its 1,000th store, with a new location in Omni Square, Bassonia. On paper, it is a milestone. In reality, it is a story of proximity, patience, and people.
Since opening its first store in Cape Town in 1968, Clicks has grown to 1,000 stores and more than 780 pharmacies across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Eswatini, and Lesotho. Today, more than half of South Africans live within five kilometres of a Clicks Pharmacy. That is not just scale. That is presence.
Bassonia was chosen deliberately. It serves a growing community of families and young professionals, and its central location makes it possible for customers to access health, beauty, and everyday essentials in a single step. The store itself reflects where Clicks is headed, while staying true to where it came from.
Larger than a typical outlet, the new store features wider aisles, an upgraded layout, and a redesigned customer experience focused on convenience, value, and accessibility. Customers can collect chronic medication, fill acute prescriptions, shop skincare, beauty, baby, and daily essentials, all in one visit. The layout enables seamless movement between categories, removing friction rather than adding it.
As Bongiwe Ntuli, Managing Executive of Clicks Retailers SA, put it, “We’re committed to meeting our customers’ needs and making health, beauty, and everyday essentials accessible to everyone.” And perhaps most tellingly, “As a value retailer, we’ve stayed true to our heritage. Value is part of our DNA, and our ‘feel good, pay less’ promise has remained unchanged for 57 years.”
That is not a marketing line. It is a lived philosophy.
Strategy That Lives in the Details
Strategy can feel abstract until you see it working in real life.
Clicks’ retail growth strategy, built on value, convenience, differentiation, and personalisation, shows up in tangible ways across the business and across every Clicks store. From convenience format locations to expanded pharmacy services, the strategy is applied consistently and with intention.
The ambition to reach 1,200 stores over the medium term is not about domination. It is about access. It is about being close enough to matter, especially in communities where healthcare and affordability are not optional extras.
The expansion of primary care clinics, the acceleration of pharmacy openings, and the development of the UniCare 24 hour pharmacy format all speak to a business listening closely to how people actually live, and responding with relevance rather than rhetoric.
Loyalty That Has Earned Its Name
This milestone year also coincides with 30 years of Clicks ClubCard, now with 12.8 million active members and firmly established as South Africa’s most widely used retail loyalty programme.
In a world where loyalty is often transactional, ClubCard feels relational. R855 million paid back to customers in a single year. R7.5 billion returned over three decades. More than 80 percent of sales linked to the programme. These figures reflect trust built slowly and honoured consistently.
Customers are not just counted. They are recognised. And they respond by staying.
Innovation Without Losing Yourself
Clicks’ private label growth, Sorbet’s continued success, and partnerships with premium brands like The Body Shop show a business comfortable with nuance.
Aspiration and accessibility sit side by side. Innovation does not erase identity. It strengthens it.
The expanded Beauty Hall at the Bassonia store reflects this balance. More space for favourite brands. Dedicated fragrance counters. Digital touchpoints highlighting promotions. All designed to enhance experience without losing warmth.
Sustainability That Shows Up in Practice
What matters is not what you say, but what you build.
The milestone store reflects Clicks’ sustainability commitments through energy efficient lighting and refrigeration, eco friendly fittings, and biodegradable paper pharmacy bags. Pharmacy stock is delivered by UPD using electric vehicles, reducing environmental impact. Many beauty and personal care products are cruelty free or sustainably formulated.
Each store creates roughly 20 in store jobs, along with additional support roles. Growth here is not extractive. It is participatory.
A Closing Reflection
Clicks Group’s 2025 story is not one of ease. It is one of earned progress.
It is the story of a retailer that grew from a single Cape Town store into a network of 1,000 locations by staying close to its customers, its values, and its purpose. Of leadership that speaks plainly. Of strategy that lives in the details. Of growth that does not forget who it is for.
As the group looks ahead to the next chapter, moving toward 1,200 stores and deeper healthcare access, it does so grounded in something rare.
A heritage that still fits the present. And a future built carefully, one store and one relationship at a time.
