Page 16 - index

PHARMACIES

Big retail chains push
the ‘corner chemist’
to brink of extinction

Like the independent
corner store that offered
personalised service, informal
credit and home delivery, the
local pharmacy is on the way
out in South Africa and being
replaced by hard-nosed retail
businesses. Stafford Thomas
reports on a sector that’s
undergoing a sea change.

PHARMACEUTICAL RETAILING
in South Africa was once an
uncomplicated affair in which
ownership was the sole domain of
qualified pharmacists. Deregulation of
the sector in April 2003 brought that
to an abrupt end.

Deregulation heralded the advent
of corporate-owned pharmacies, a sea
change that has left many, if not most,
privately owned pharmacies struggling
to survive.

The giant Clicks Group was the first
to see the new opportunity, snapping
up eight private pharmacies within
days of deregulation – something that
CEO Trevor Honeysett had ardently
championed. It gave the retailer a first-
mover advantage which it has exploited
with vigour through the ‘drug store’
model, which combines a pharmacy
with a ‘front shop’ selling health and
beauty products, as well as general
merchandise ranging from hairdryers
to filters for water jugs.

14 strategicmarketing October 2016 – January 2017