South Africa’s biggest healthcare retailer JSE-listed Clicks Group is continuing its expansion drive despite continuing Covid-19 pressure and the impact of the July unrest on its business.
Clicks executives told investors and analysts during its 2021 full-year results webcast on Thursday that the group is committed to its roll-out of new stores and has a target to reach a 900-store footprint within the next few years.
The group’s outgoing CEO Vikesh Ramsunder said Clicks had surpassed the 750-store mark earlier in the financial year and currently has 782 stores (including its recent acquisition of 25 of Pick n Pay’s in-store pharmacies).
He added that despite the Musica chain being a legacy business, it was still sad to see it finally being forced to close during the reporting period. However, later in his results presentation he gave an update on the group’s expansion plans for its main Clicks retail chain, including the opening of 11 Clicks Baby stores.
Clicks Baby
Regarding the new Clicks Baby store format, he said that the plan was to have around 11 stores over the longer term in major urban malls that would serve as more of a showroom for larger accessories for babies.
He added that there would not be a major roll-out of Clicks Baby stores and reiterated that the idea is for the stores to serve as showrooms and most sales for this new chain would ultimately be derived online.
The Clicks Baby move comes as the group’s biggest competitor, JSE-listed Dis-Chem, recently finalised the acquisition of the Baby City chain of stores as part of its expansion into baby accessories.
There have been reports that Mr Price Group is also looking at expanding into the baby accessories retail sub-sector.
