Divisions - Link - History

In the mid 1960's it became clear that the very survival of the traditional retail pharmacy as it was known, would come under threat by the emerging chain store movement.

In an attempt to counteract these developments, South African Druggists (SAD), a major pharmaceutical Company, proposed the establishment of a network of pharmacies with the objective of providing enhanced buying power as well as advertising muscle to individual operators who would be grouped together to operate under a common banner .

“Link bought the name Pharmacare from a Durban pharmacist to be utilized as the name for in-pharmacy nursing services ( clinic based ) .This name was subsequently taken over by a division of S.A.Druggists which today is Aspen Pharmacare .”

To fully appreciate the obstacles these early pioneers had to overcome, one needs to remember that franchising as it is known today, was not fully understood and at the same time South African consumers were not particularly brand conscious. Although large numbers of pharmacies joined up, very few truly understood or were prepared to accept that, to achieve critical mass, a unified approach extending to every facet of each participating pharmacy would be needed .

The loosely worded franchise agreement in force at the time did not allow SAD to exercise the level of control over operations that was clearly required, and certain pharmacists among the original network's membership continued with impunity to do, or failed to do, things that impacted negatively on the reputation of the network. Errant members had to be removed from the network and changes were implemented that addressed some of the problems encountered in the past. In the interest of credibility a re-launch of the network had become necessary and this is how the Link brand came into being .

“Many of the original members who signed up in 1979 are still very active in the organization and have been Link pharmacies for 30 years.”

With major pomp and ceremony the new Link pharmacy chain was unveiled to the public in August 1979. The original colours of orange, white and blue were selected as a tie-in with the “Buy South Africa” campaign that was in progress at the time. With the efflux of time the rationale for this choice faded away, leading to the introduction of a more dynamic colour scheme of red and blue which exists today .

In 1995 the entry of a new executive team led to a more formalised franchise operation and the new colours were adopted. At this time the slogan “Link Good Health Pharmacy” was introduced. In 1998 Link Investment Trust ( LIT ) was formed and pharmacists were given the opportunity to buy shares. Many members failed to recognise the opportunity and resigned from the network. In 1999 SAD was unbundled and delisted from the JSE. Fedsure Investments acquired a 30% stake in LIT which subsequently was sold to New Clicks Holdings Ltd. In 2008 Clicks shares in LIT were sold to one of their divisions (New UPD) and Link became a banner group with its own disciplines and compliances .