Dis-Chem’s clever use of bodybuilders to beat Clicks in a key market

Dis-Chem employed bodybuilders to stand in their supplement and vitamin aisles to prove its credibility in this key market. 

The pharmacy chain effectively built the market in South Africa and maintains a 60% share of supplement and vitamin sales today. 

Founder Ivan Saltzman recently explained some of Dis-Chem’s tactics to build credibility in new markets in an interview with Broll Auctions. 

Saltzman and Dis-Chem are adept at entering new markets, with the creation of the pharmacy chain in 1978 revolutionising the industry. 

Dis-Chem was the first pharmacy to combine medicine products with general retail to boost sales and shopping frequency at its stores. 

Today, it is hard to imagine a pharmacy without a front-of-store retail section where general consumer goods and dry foodstuffs are sold. 

In 1978, Saltzman and his wife, Lynette, opened the first Dis-Chem with this revolutionary model in mind, as medicine prices were tightly regulated. 

To display their credibility in this area, Saltzman competed intensely with Pick n Pay on price and selection. Dis-Chem would only stock complete product ranges at lower prices than the retail giant. 

This strategy worked, and Dis-Chem grew rapidly into a giant valued at R22 billion on the JSE with 323 pharmacies around South Africa. 

Thus, when supplements became popular in the United States and Europe, Dis-Chem saw the chance to build credibility in a new market. 

This time around, they would have to build the market and make supplements and vitamins mainstream in South Africa. 

Saltzman explained that while medicines sold themselves through good buying and product availability, in the retail space, it had to specialise in cosmetics, health, and vitamins. 

Leading this charge was Stan Goetsch, who pioneered the supplement and nutrition industry in South Africa. 

“He ran with it. He virtually built the bodybuilding supplement industry in this country. We were the leaders, and we had the widest variety,” Saltzman said. 

“Even today, on the supplement side, we have the dominant business at well over 50% market share. I think we now have 65% market share, and we have a big share in vitamins.”

To build this dominance, Dis-Chem first established credibility by training its staff to help shoppers understand vitamins and supplements. 

They also employed bodybuilders to stand in the supplement aisles to help customers and be physical advertisements for their products. 

“We had bodybuilders in the aisles for a while, but they are actually quite slow and lazy people,” Saltzman said. 

“They were great on knowledge, but just because you were a bodybuilder did not mean that you were a good salesperson.”

One thing the bodybuilders did do was build Dis-Chem’s credibility in the supplement market, enabling it to retain market share despite increased competition from specialised stores.