New Clicks

DigiPoS Store Solutions South Africa has announced a further technology win with the installation of a comprehensive range of retail technology solutions for leading healthcare retailer New Clicks, headquartered in Cape Town.

New Clicks Holdings is a specialist retail group which has been listed on the JSE Limited since 1996. Through market-leading retail brands Clicks, Musica and The Body Shop, the group now has 500 stores across southern Africa and in 125 retail pharmacy outlets via pharmaceutical distributor, New United Pharmaceutical Distributors (UPD).

New Clicks selected DigiPoS after a rigorous evaluation process involving a team from within New Clicks as well as CEB Maintenance - independent Service Provider to New Clicks.   The group decided to replace the already installed DigiPoS Millenniums and PowerPoS product which had been installed for over 5 years.  Lorna Powe, Head of IT from New Clicks outlined the approach taken and the reasons behind the change: “We needed to ensure that we had the best solutions to support our store roll out program and a comprehensive technology suite across PoS Systems, LCD Touch screens, printers, scanners, cash draws and pole displays. One of our key measures was our assessment over the cost of ownership in the longer term and longevity of the technology across the estate.”

New Clicks had a requirement for over 2 200 systems across all stores and sought the practical benefits of working with a supplier who was fundamentally committed as an organization and had demonstrable expertise in the retail sector. Powe, explained further: “We recognized there were clear advantages in working with DigiPoS who had a proven track record in designed for retail technology and the advantage of knowing the New Clicks environment having worked with the Group since 1999.”  DigiPoS Store Solutions specialize solely in retail store solutions and have worked and interacted with many of the world’s leading retail brands. That ensured the system and peripherals being proposed was world class.  The working relationship between the businesses was one of professionalism and based on working in unison to find the best solution. 

The most impressive feature of the thorough evaluation of the proposed system, the Retail Blade was when the entire application software worked seamlessly when transferred from the out going DigiPoS technology platform to the Retail Blade!”

Powe continues: “The concept of the Retail Blade being removed so easily and then system upgradeability made a great deal of sense. Furthermore, DigiPoS were actually able to prove true lower cost of ownership over 5 years, and demonstrated that their technology offered the easiest platform to support. We were pleased to see DigiPoS willing to get involved and engage with our Maintenance Partner CEB Maintenance to deliver a lower cost of maintaining the solution.  The Warranty and support offered really helped us formalize and conclude the supply agreement.”

Regan Atkins, Managing Director of DigiPoS Store Solutions South African operations, highlighted how the three teams from New Clicks, CEB Maintenance and DigiPoS were able to work together: “We are very proud to have been re-selected by a leading brand such as New Clicks and we were delighted with the way in which members from all organizations sought to drive the very best for New Clicks in terms of the final technology solution. We additionally sought to provide an innovative solution in the form of our GSM Remote Management Application which will provide monitoring of systems and peripherals right across the estate. . It’s an example of the high standards and requirements that the IT Team from Clicks have established – which I am pleased to say we were able to fulfill in their entirety.”