Edcon, which is still struggling to recover from years of underinvestment in stores due to its debt burden, is investing in its discount brands Jet and Jet Mart stores, which could be the answer to the retailer's woes. Edcon, South Africa's largest apparel retailer by stores, is piloting various formats, as in its speciality division, which includes Edgars and Boardmans, and in its discount division. They are likely to be rolled out towards year-end. An Edcon spokesman said this week that while details of the plan remained confidential "one of the reasons for divesting from Legit was to form a dedicated and focused team to drive our Jet business". Plans for the discount division did not include rolling out more Jet Mart stores, he said. Already the group has raised its capital expenditure. In the third quarter of 2016-17, it invested R40-million in the discount division from R10-million in the previous matching period. An SBG Securities retail analyst, Kaeleen Brown, said Jet stores...
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