SOUTH AFRICA – Dis-Chem Pharmacies has added additional features to its DeliverD on-demand 60-minute delivery service in a bid to boost the platform’s convenience offering.
Customers now have the option of scheduling deliveries by selecting their preferred delivery times in hourly increments. The pharmacy retailer has also improved DeliverD’s product selection.
The pharmaceutical retailer is a leading specialist in beauty, sport supplements and health and well-being along with offering expert advice and a wide range of products in these categories. Its Foundation provides care and support to improve the lives of individuals while relieving the burden on communities.
When DeliverD was piloted in mid-2021, customers originally had access to a range of 7,000 items across health, nutrition, beauty, cosmetic and electrical products.
This has now been extended to 10,000 items, giving shoppers access to more product options per category. Furthermore, Dis-Chem Benefit Card loyalty programme members are now able to earn points from purchases.
“The pilot phase was extremely successful, and we used it as an opportunity to fine-tune the service and align it with specific customer requirements,” Saul Saltzman, managing director at Dis-Chem, commented.
“These changes result from a constant review of the locations, product availability and a growing demand from customers which has seen a 136% increase in sales revenue in the last 12 months.
“This is a clear indicator of the inherent value in DeliverD as a delivery service focusing on convenience.”
Dis-Chem says that locations have been optimised and DeliverD is now available to customers situated within 10km of the stores using their services.
Last year Dis-Chem Pharmacies Ltd recorded a 15.7% jump in total revenue to R30.4 billion (US$1.94B) buoyed by acquisitions of new drugstores and stronger demand for medicines as COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns ease.
Dis-Chem’s acquisition of Medicare pharmacies is paying off, boosting its footprint and making the company South Africa’s largest retail pharmacy group by dispensary market share.
Dis-Chem, which runs the second-largest chain of pharmacies in South Africa and competes with Clicks Group, said it had administered 1.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses during the year ended February, resulting in R513 million (US$32.5M) in revenue.
Earlier, the company had administered 405,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses during the half-year ended August in 2021, with that number increasing to 860,000 by the end of October 2021.
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