Source: BizCommunity

Clicks is expanding its savings proposition across its health, beauty and wellness categories, introducing lower prices on more than 2,500 products while offering ClubCard members an additional 10% instant saving on selected products.

The move reflects a broader shift in South African retail, where loyalty programmes are increasingly being used alongside pricing strategies to provide customers with more immediate value amid persistent cost-of-living pressures.

Rather than relying solely on traditional promotions, retailers are increasingly combining everyday pricing with personalised or loyalty-linked incentives as consumers become more deliberate about where and how they spend.

"We know that every rand counts and that customers are making careful choices about how they spend," says Bongiwe Ntuli, Clicks Group Executive: Retail. "That's why we're giving them more ways to save on the products they buy most often."

For Clicks, the latest changes build on its recent decision to move ClubCard cashback to a monthly cycle, giving members access to rewards more frequently.

The combination of lower prices, instant savings and more frequent cashback illustrates how loyalty is evolving beyond points accumulation. For consumers, the appeal increasingly lies in tangible savings that can be realised during or shortly after a purchase.

Loyalty becomes a bigger part of the value equation

Clicks says its ClubCard programme has nearly 13 million active members, making it one of South Africa's largest established retail loyalty ecosystems.

According to the retailer, the programme has returned R7.5bn in cashback to members over its three-decade history, including R855m during 2025.

The scale of the programme highlights the commercial importance of loyalty in South African retail. A large membership base gives retailers an opportunity to understand purchasing behaviour while giving consumers incentives to remain within a particular retail ecosystem.

However, as household budgets remain under pressure, loyalty programmes are also facing a higher expectation from shoppers: rewards need to translate into meaningful value rather than simply encourage repeat purchases.

Clicks' latest initiative therefore places immediate savings alongside cashback, reflecting a retail environment in which price, convenience and perceived value increasingly influence purchasing decisions.

For the wider health and beauty retail sector, the development also points to the growing importance of balancing promotional activity with more sustainable value propositions. Consumers may still respond to deals, but increasingly, the question is whether the overall shopping experience delivers enough value to justify the spend.

As competition across South African retail intensifies, loyalty programmes are consequently becoming less about simply retaining customers and more about helping retailers demonstrate why shoppers should continue choosing them.

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