South Africa’s largest retail pharmacy chain Dis-Chem launched a new reward offering programme on Wednesday for their Dis-Chem Health policyholders.
‘extra by Dis-Chem’ offers policyholders access to an immediate 20% discount on a variety of healthy and essential products, 365 days a year.
This includes a basket of 2 500+ health, home care, personal care, and baby products from leading brands, from all Dis-Chem stores and the Dis-Chem online store.
Speaking at the launch event that was held in Sandton, Morningside, chief financial officer of Dis-Chem, Rui Morais, said, “We selected vendors to participate in our rewards programme, and the fact that they came on board shows that they shared the vision that we have as well, which is trying to give access and affordability to more South Africans to taste and feel private healthcare.”
Also speaking at the event, Dis-Chem’s Health general manager, Jessica Bates, said, “With Dis-Chem launching affordable medical insurance, gap cover, and now this incredible rewards programme, everything is underpinned to Dis-Chem wanting to make private healthcare affordable to all South Africans, so all citizens in this country are able to access quality healthcare that they need.”
Last year in March, the company launched Dis-Chem Health, a health insurance offering designed to entrench the group’s growing position as an integrated provider of primary healthcare.
This came after the acquisition of 25% of Kaelo Holdings’ equity which houses a complementary portfolio of health assets, including occupational health clinics, the AskNelson psychological well-being platform, and the administration of benefit-rich gap and primary health insurance products.
“Primary healthcare is fundamental to a healthcare system that improves health outcomes to as broad a base of the population as possible. With primary healthcare gaining widespread recognition as being the “front door” of the healthcare system, pharmacies are positioned as a fundamental entry point of the primary healthcare ecosystem,” said CFO Morais.
At the time, Dis-Chem said it has identified a need to provide universal access to affordable and quality private primary healthcare in an environment where more people are prepared to pay for healthcare, which aligns with its intention and commitment to play a leading role to extend universal access to a wider and under-served segment of the population.
“This initiative combines Dis-Chem’s consumer facing brand strength, store network and loyalty base assets with Kaelo’s best in class health insurance assets, giving the capability to maximise policy acquisition and retention while making a meaningful difference in the lives of a large segment of our population who have historically not had access to traditional private medical coverage,” Morais adds.
BUSINESS REPORT