The Foschini Group (TFG), which recently celebrated 75 years as a listed company on the JSE, continues to diversify from the mass women’s market into speciality brands and scout globally for more add-ons following the purchase of two UK retailers over the past 18 months. The company has changed the way it sources, pays and manufactures to reduce the impact of product inflation on its consumers, which has largely been driven by the deterioration in the exchange rate. CFO Anthony Thunström says the group’s average product inflation for this year is significantly lower than the 15% touted in the market. At the Foschini brand itself, he says TFG’s expected average product inflation for 2016, prior to the rand collapsing in December 2015, was less than 1%. "The subsequent movement in the exchange rate has obviously affected that. However, the gap that we have opened remains largely intact." He adds that there is always more work to be done on supply chain and sourcing, and in terms of ne...
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