The Foschini Group’s investment in online shopping platform Bash is paying dividends for the retailer, with online sales as a portion of total sales volumes continuing to show steady growth in its South African operations.
TFG’s online sales volumes in South Africa, at 5.6% of total sales, is tracking alongside TFG Australia, whose online sales make up 7.7% of the total. However, both South Africa and Australia are laggards when compared to TFG London, the group’s UK division, where online sales are nearing half of all sales.
“Following our continued investment in our e-commerce platform, Bash, online sales grew 47.9% and now contribute 5.6% to sales,” TFG said in comments alongside its interim results for the six months to 30 September 2024, which were released on Friday. That’s up from 3.8% in the same period a year ago.
In the UK, online sales contributed to 42% of total sales.
At group level, online sales grew by 9.9% to R2.8-billion, contributing 10.7% to total sales. TFG said much of this growth is attributable to the contribution from Bash in South Africa.
Built by Superbalist co-founders Claude Hanan and Luke Jedeikin, Bash consolidates all of TFG’s brands – including Markham, Foschini and Sportscene – into a single online retail marketplace. Bash’s strong performance comes in spite of stiff competition from fast-fashion online retailer, China’s Shein, aggressively targeting South African consumers with cut-price clothing.
Consumers under pressure
The group’s proportion of online to in-store sales in South Africa aligns with industry norms, with research firm World Wide Works estimating online sales at 6% of the R1.1-trillion in retail sales generated by the sector last year.
Overall, TFG reported a 5.6% decline in half-year profits on lower sales as inflation and high living costs continued to put pressure on consumer demand for discretionary items. Headline earnings per share fell to R3.71 from R3.93 the previous year. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
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