SHOP TALK: Getting a leg up in SA
Though they are dwarfed by JSE-listed retailers, collectively, global retailers have stolen market share
Cotton On Group, says its group exec of property Rob Kenny, wasn’t some hotshot business when it came to SA. "We couldn’t get a deal done for the simple fact that we weren’t licensing with a partner, the SA landlords had no interest in doing a deal with us. Not one wanted to give us a go," he tells me at Café Di Stasio in St Kilda, Melbourne. (The scallops, if you are ever there, are divine.) He went on to say, though, that the SA market — where it now has about 200 stores — ended up giving it the impetus to go back to Australia and open more flagship stores and grow its global business. "We learnt a lot about ourselves through SA," he says.I had a chat recently with H&M SA country manager Pär Darj. He was about to jet off to Switzerland (for the raclette and skiing, not to save the world at the World Economic Forum). While people in SA may not have that much money, the company has found that its concept is holding well and price is important. "We don’t open if we don’t have prime l...
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