Foschini Group to close 180 more stores as online sales surge

South African fashion retailer The Foschini Group expects to close a further 180 stores over the next three financial years, as it looks to improve profitability amid a shift toward online shopping, the SABC reports.

The group, whose stable of brands includes Foschini, Sportscene and Markham, posted sales growth of 0.2% to R23 billion in the 21 weeks to 22 August, with its African operations growing 3.4%. It closed 85 stores during the period that were no longer deemed “economically viable”, while opening 25 new outlets.

A further 80 stores are expected to meet the closure criteria in the 2027 financial year, with an additional 100 projected over the two years after that. The retailer said the closures form part of a broader effort to structurally cut costs and streamline its store portfolio.

Online sales, meanwhile, continue to outpace the group's brick-and-mortar performance. Group online revenue rose 15.3% over the period, now making up 15.9% of total sales.

The gains were even sharper in Africa, where online sales jumped 54.1% – driven largely by the group's Bash e-commerce platform – lifting the online share of African sales to 10.5%, up from 7.1% in the prior period.