Dis-Chem retired a 23-year loyalty programme with 9 million members. In 17 weeks, the replacement doubled their growth rate.

Points were not working. The CEO said so publicly.

Dis-Chem's Benefit Card ran for 23 years. Nine million members. Green cards swiped daily. And when CEO Rui Morais looked at the data, he described the value returned to customers as "relatively poor." Points collected. Redemption lagged. The gap between earning and using created a dead zone where behaviour stopped being influenced.

This is not a Dis-Chem problem. It is a structural problem with any programme where the reward is delayed. Points sitting unredeemed on a balance sheet are a growing actuarial liability. The customer does not feel value. The CFO sees unpredictable cost. The brand manager cannot prove the programme drives anything. On 21 October 2025, the Benefit Card was retired. Better Rewards replaced it with instant discounts, no accumulation, no friction, no gap between action and value.

The incentive is not to buy more medicine. It is to buy your medicine at Dis-Chem, and then buy your groceries, toiletries, and household goods at a discount no competitor can match. This is a self-resetting engagement loop. No campaign manager runs it. No SMS triggers it. The behaviour drives the reward drives the behaviour.

Chronic medication adherence in South Africa sits at roughly 50%. Half of chronic patients skip doses or delay refills. By making the refill the trigger for broader savings, Dis-Chem turned a healthcare problem into a retail advantage. Morais said it directly: "If you can drive chronic adherence, you can open up value in the health funding space." Pharmacy revenue grew 13.7% in 17 weeks. Not from more marketing. From a design decision that linked an existing monthly behaviour to a rolling financial incentive across the entire store.

550,000 new customers at near-zero acquisition cost.

Capitec has over 25 million clients. Dis-Chem made them the exclusive banking partner. In 17 weeks, 550,000 people transacted with Dis-Chem who had not engaged with the brand in the prior 12 months. These are not existing customers spending slightly more. These are net-new shoppers acquired through a partner's distribution at close to zero incremental marketing cost. Capitec wants card spend. Dis-Chem wants foot traffic. The discount cost is shared. The value compounds.

On the vendor side, 140+ brands co-fund the discounts because they see it as a market share opportunity. Participating brands grew revenue 19.4% with volume growth of 20.9%. Non-participating brands also benefited from what Dis-Chem calls the "halo effect" of increased foot traffic. This creates a flywheel: more shoppers attract more brand participation, more participation funds deeper discounts, deeper discounts attract more shoppers. Morais projects over R1.5 billion in savings returned to customers in the first year. The programme does not erode margin. It redistributes funding.

Three questions for your programme.

What is your redemption rate, honestly?

If less than 60% of earned rewards are redeemed, you have a redemption lag problem. Your customers are accumulating but not engaging. Your rewards are a liability on your balance sheet, not a driver of behaviour. Dis-Chem eliminated this entirely. Every reward is instant, at the till, on every qualifying purchase. There is no gap between action and value. If your programme has that gap, your customers feel it even if your dashboard does not show it.

Is your reward linked to a behaviour the customer already does?

The pharmacy boost works because the trigger is a behaviour the customer already does monthly: filling a prescription. It does not ask them to do something new. It rewards something they already do and gives them a reason to do it at Dis-Chem specifically. If your reward requires new behaviour, your programme is working harder than it needs to. The most effective reward programmes attach to existing habits, not aspirational ones.

Who else is paying for the value you distribute?

If your reward cost comes 100% from your own margin, your programme has a ceiling. Every budget cycle, someone will ask whether the spend is justified. Dis-Chem uses 140+ vendor co-funders and Capitec to share the cost. Every rand of discount is partly subsidised by a partner who benefits from the transaction. The brands that sustain their programmes long-term are the ones that build co-funding into the model from the start. If you are funding alone, your programme is smaller and shorter than it could be.