Edcon adds two exclusive European labels to its offering

Nompumelelo Magwaza

Edcon continues to increase its offering of international brands after bagging exclusive South African franchise rights for two European clothing labels.

The retailer announced on Friday that it would stock the German-based Tom Tailor and London-based Dune brands in its stores in the next few months. The Tom Tailor brand will come in two labels: Tom Tailor Casual and Tom Tailor Denim wear.

“The launch of Tom Tailor in South Africa is very exciting as we own 100 percent of the franchise rights in South Africa, enabling us to deliver the experience through both stand-alone and shop-in-shop formats,” Edcon chief executive Jürgen Schreiber said. “This is part of our ongoing strategy to be the destination for brands and fashionable on-trend merchandise for local consumers.”

In the past year Edcon, which owns store brands such as Jet, Edgars and CNA, has struggled with its retail sales and internal operations. The retailer, which trades through 1 233 stores in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and other southern African countries, has been criticised for losing market share to competitors such as Mr Price, Foschini and Truworths.

It has, however, been aggressive in securing leading international brands, something which retail analysts said might take time to bear fruitful results.

Schreiber had previously said that one of Edcon’s key strategies was to enhance international brand offering to its customers. In the past year, Edcon introduced two known international brands, Topshop Topman and Mango.

The Mango brand is represented in 107 countries and trades through 2 400 stores and has been rolled out in Edgars stores through a partnership between Edcon and Busby.

Chris Gilmour at Absa Investments said on Friday that it was too early to say whether offering international brands would work for Edgars, adding that these brands were only available in a select few shops.

Gilmour said Edgars’ competitors, like Stuttafords, had in the past brought international brands to South Africa, but the problem was that people were not buying these brands.

He said, however, that Edcon might present a different case, “as they have a large store base and if it was to roll out these brands to most of their stores, it could be good for them”.

He added that an international brand, such as Zara, was doing well in South Africa, simply because it was popular. “The question to ask is whether these brands are popular enough, and if they would be sold at a good affordable price,” he said.

Gilmour said Zara had been very clever because it presented an image of being an up-market brand, while it was actually cheaper than Truworths. “Therefore, it is important for Edgars to get the price right and relative to the recognition of these brands, then there is no doubt that they will do well.”

The first stand-alone Tom Tailor store, which will offer casual wear, will open in August at Sandton City. This store opening will be followed by a roll-out of 25 shop-in-shops at Edgars stores around the country. The shop-in-shops offering will initially focus on Tom Tailor denimwear.

The brand was founded by Uwe Schröder in 1964 and has been marketed in more than 35 countries through its wholesale and retail segment.

The London-based Dune brand will also open its first store in Sandton City in August, with store-in-store concepts opening exclusively in four Edgars stores in November. The brand will offer a range of men’s and ladies’ footwear, bags and accessories.

The London-based brand was founded in 1992 and has expanded to over 45 stand-alone stores and concessions in leading department stores around the world.