JSE-listed retail group TFG has reported significant growth in its online sales, driven by the success of its e-commerce platform, Bash.
For the first nine months of the 2025 financial year, TFG’s online sales surged by 41.4%, now accounting for 5.6% of the company’s total sales.
Launched in February 2023, Bash has also achieved notable market share gains, particularly in December 2024, outperforming several pure-play retailers that experienced declines during the same period.
TFG, which owns popular clothing brands such as Foschini and Markham, revealed that group online sales grew by 47.2% in the third quarter of FY2025.
In TFG Africa, online sales increased by 49.3% during the quarter and by 20.8% over the nine-month period, contributing 11.3% to total retail sales. The company attributed this growth to strong performance during key shopping periods, including Black Friday and the Christmas season.
In South Africa, TFG Africa reported a 14.6% increase in sales for the three weeks ending 18 January 2025, supported by a modest economic recovery expected in 2025. The retailer plans to expand its store footprint by opening over 100 new stores during the 2026 financial year, while continuing to optimize its store portfolio to improve capital efficiency.
Internationally, TFG Australia, which operates menswear brands Connor and Johnny Bigg, faced challenging trading conditions but showed signs of improvement. Sales in Australia declined by just 0.5% in the third quarter, compared to a 2.4% contraction in the first half of the year. For the three weeks ending 18 January 2025, sales grew by 3.0%, with the economy showing signs of stabilization and potential interest rate reductions on the horizon. Management’s focus on inventory management has also led to an 80-basis-point improvement in gross margins year-to-date.
In the UK, TFG London saw a significant boost following the acquisition of White Stuff, effective 25 October 2024. Sales in the third quarter of FY2025 increased by 46.5%, or 0.6% on a comparable basis. On a standalone basis, White Stuff reported an 18.3% growth in sales compared to the same period in the previous year.
TFG’s management remains focused on protecting gross margins, which have improved by approximately 200 basis points year-to-date in FY2025. With a positive outlook in South Africa, gradual recovery in Australia, and strong performance in the UK, TFG is well-positioned for continued growth across its markets.
TFG’s new fashion and lifestyle shopping platform, bash, made a standout official debut this week, becoming the most downloaded app within six hours of its launch to customers.
The platform, available on desktop and mobile web, as well as the IOS, Android and Huawei App stores, was the most popular app both within the shopping category and across all categories.
Bash already boasts over 150 brands across 15 TFG store brands. Combined, this showcases an unrivalled selection of SA’s most-loved retail brands, augmented by the TFG rewards programme and TFGMoney.
“We always knew that TFG had the ideal pillars to build a profitable, at-scale ecommerce business. Over 20 million customers, 3 000 stores nation-wide, more than 15 of SA’s most-loved store brands, a compelling rewards and credit offering, and our unique quick-response manufacturing capability give TFG numerous advantages over pure-play competitors. What we needed was a tech platform to bring all these elements together, and bash does exactly that,” said TFG CEO Anthony Thunström.
