The Foschini Group (TFG) a South African fashion retailer, expects to close a further 180 stores over the next three financial years as it seeks to improve profitability amid growing online sales.
Foschini group, which owns clothing brands including Foschini, Markham and Sportscene, reported sales growth of 0.2% to R23 billion in the 21 weeks ended 22 August, 2026 while its African business grew by 3.4%. The retailer closed 85 stores that were no longer economically viable during the period and opened 25 new outlets. A further 80 stores are expected to close during the 2027 financial year, followed by another 100 over the subsequent two financial years. According to TFG, the planned store closures form part of efforts to structurally reduce costs and improve the efficiency of its store portfolio.
The retailer also reported that group online revenue rose by 15.3% during the same period (29 March – 22 Aug), accounting for 15.9% of total sales. In Africa, online sales increased by 54.1%, driven by the group’s Bash e-commerce platform, improving online sales to 10.5% of total sales from 7.1% in the previous period.
TFG CEO Anthony Thunström said the company is focused on serving customers through the channels they prefer as more shoppers move towards digital platforms. “Stores will remain important, but we clearly need to serve our customers through the channels that they choose, and they are increasingly choosing digital,” he said.
