Fashion Sales Down 11% at South African Retailer Woolworths

Woolworths Holdings, the South African retailer, has reported an overall group turnover and concession sales increase of 5.3 percent to 43.0 billion rand ($2.8 billion) for the 26 weeks ended 27 December 2020. The company points to the sale of its Australian retailer, David Jones’ Bourke Street store property, which occurred last July, as one reason for reaching profit. The Cape Town-based firm reported that its fashion, beauty and home segment sales, where 62 percent of its revenue comes from, dropped 11.2 percent during the same period.

Fibre2Fashion reports that while womenswear and menswear sales were down, kidswear grew market share and home and beauty were the strongest performing groups during the period. Online sales for the segment also increased by 18.8 percent. The company has noted that it will tap into increasing demand for casual and sportswear as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and a reduced reliance on formal wear.