Luxury Beauty in South Africa: Clicks Moves to Control ARC

South Africa’s largest beauty store stands in Sandton City, and the company behind it is about to change hands. Clicks Group has agreed to buy a further 35.3% of ARC Store from its founding shareholders for R507 million, raising its holding from 25.7% to 61% and taking control of the country’s leading premium beauty retailer.

● In brief

• ARC was founded in 2020, runs 12 stores across South Africa alongside its online business and plans to grow to between 20 and 30 stores in the medium term.
• The founding shareholders remain invested, and the executive management has committed to stay with the business until at least 2028.
• Clicks first bought into ARC in 2021 and raised its stake to 25.7% in 2025.
• The transaction still requires approval from the competition authorities.

● Why it matters

Prestige beauty in South Africa was built by a local specialist and is now moving into a domestic retail system that holds the customer data.

• The two businesses were linked long before the deal. ARC has been part of the Clicks ClubCard programme since 2021, and Clicks stores serve as collection points for ARC’s online orders.
• The data already shows the overlap. Registered ARC customers spent R836 million at Clicks over the past year, 16% more than the year before.
• Clicks values the South African premium beauty market at more than R6 billion a year.
• New centres of power in beauty are forming at the retailers in growth markets that control access to the shopper, alongside the brands that fill their shelves.