Business

Major threat coming after Clicks and Dis-Chem in South Africa

Staff Writer

 ·22 Oct 2025

South African retail group SPAR is hitting the throttle on its expansion plans into the pharmaceutical retail market, with its acquisition of Aptekor putting in on the path to doubling its stores in the next year.

SPAR Health, a wholly owned subsidiary of the SPAR Group, received the nod from the Competition Commission to acquire Aptekor Group at the start of the month.

The commission recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve the proposed transaction, where Spar Health will acquire Aptekor Sneldiens and Aptekor Wholesale, without conditions.

Founded over fifty years ago, Aptekor evolved from a small group of independent pharmacies into a major pharmaceutical wholesaler and courier service, supporting pharmacies, hospitals, and doctors across the Western Cape, Northern Cape, and Karoo.

According to SPAR, the acquisition marks a major milestone in its national growth strategy, where it intends to double its pharmaceutical retail reach within the next three years.

SPAR’s pharmacy network – Pharmacy at SPAR – currently includes 125 stores nationwide, and it now plans to reach 250 before the end of 2028.

It said it will also continue to boost and support independent pharmacists, providing services and expertise through the SPAR group, including branding and retail operation support.

The retailer said the acquisition of Aptekor represents the first phase of SPAR Health’s national wholesaling and support services expansion.

There are advanced plans already underway for a Durban-based pharmaceutical wholesaler to extend SPAR Health’s reach into KwaZulu-Natal.

Plans are to expand even further, it said.

The biggest pharmacies in South Africa

South Africa’s pharmacy retail market is most affiliated with two JSE-listed brands—Clicks and Dis-Chem—with Shoprite’s Medi-Rite brand also becoming more prolific.

Outside of these groups, South Africans will also be familiar with the Link Pharmacy group, Alpha Pharmacies, and a host of other independent and local pharmacies that serve direct communities.

In terms of numbers, Clicks has by far the widest network, with over 1,000 stores, of which around 740 are pharmacies.

The group plans to open up 55 stores and 55 pharmacies for the 2025 financial year and has committed to a medium-term target of 1,200 stores.

Link Pharmacies—which has over 300 branded stores in the country—has close ties to Clicks.

This branded group of independent pharmacies licenses the Link brand from United Pharmaceutical Distributors (UPD), which is a division of the Clicks Group.

This makes the Link Pharmacies inextricably tied to Clicks, but still independently owned.

The second-largest pharmacy brand in South Africa is Alpha Pharmacies, which boasts over 350 branded stores in the country, making it the largest independent pharmaceutical retail group.

The group is also founded on independent pharmacies uniting under a central banner, with franchised, independent and shareholder pharmacies under the brand.

Alpha Pharm was acquired by Swiss-based investment firm, Shogun Holding, in 2015. Earlier in 2025, the group was reacquired by local investors.

Despite being one of the most popular and prolific brands, Dis-Chem only has the fourth-largest network in the sector. While it has over 330 stores, of these only 285 are Dis-Chem pharmacies.

Behind the dedicated pharmacy players, South Africa’s grocery retailers are playing catch-up.

Shoprite’s Medirite brand has expanded over the years, but it is still only available in select stores and locations, with the group counting 144 outlets in 2025.

Tracking behind Shoprite is SPAR, with currently 125 Pharmacy @ SPAR branches.

With its latest acquisition and plans to double its presence, it should shoot past Medirite over the next few years, but will likely still lag behind Dis-Chem.

Notably, Pick n Pay used to operate about 25 of its own pharmacy stores, but these were sold to and rebranded as Clicks stores in 2021, adding to its tally.