The South African retailer unified 18 brands in one website, overcoming limitations and updating its technological capabilities.
35%
of transactions through the native app
47%
of orders processed through the alternative payment method
73%
increase in multi-brand orders
TFG (The Foschini Group) is a South African retailer with 26 brands from various segments, ranging from fashion to sporting apparel and electronics. The main change driver was the Group’s previous legacy system platform, that limited its technological freedom and flexibility to try out innovative solutions.
When challenged with the task of reinventing the company’s ecommerce experience in South Africa, the TFG team was looking for:
“What drew us to VTEX was the simplified API integration, the personalization level, and better features for customers. We are at the beginning of our omnichannel journey, and compared to its competitors, VTEX was the best choice regarding superior capabilities at a fraction of the time.”
— Luke Jedeikin, co-founder of Bash
With VTEX, TFG launched a marketplace that absorbed 18 of its 26 South African brands into one single website called bash.com.
Platform migration can be a challenge in itself, but the collaboration between VTEX’s Professional Services team and the over 120 developers at TFG Labs guaranteed a seamless process. By using out-of-the-box solutions, the VTEX team delivered an excellent and speedy replatforming experience.
At first glance, bash.com’s architecture looks pretty regular, but one thing stands out. The TFG developer team integrated a third-party headless CMS called Strapi to the VTEX main account. By using a headless approach, TFG has complete control of the content management system, which allows each brand to customize its marketplace website as it wishes.The headless approach also came in handy for one of the project’s highlights: Bash’s native mobile app, the #1 fashion app in South Africa, developed by a specialized agency alongside TFG’s developers.
The main challenge was that TFG wanted their customers to always be logged in, which wasn’t possible due to VTEX’s native data protection protocols, which have a 24-hour login limit. VTEX’s Identity team was able to meet that demand by creating an API that refreshes cookies automatically without requiring the user to log in again. To accomplish it in the shortest time possible, the team used checkout as a web view embedded in the native app.
TFG had other special requirements that needed close attention. VTEX’s flexibility was key in adapting to both regional and company needs, such as:
In just four months, TFG launched a unified, headless marketplace (Bash), becoming the first traditional brick-and-mortar retailer in South Africa to create an online shopping platform of this kind.
Below are some results gathered so far:
“Through every step of the digital transformation process, the Foschini Group’s goal has been to deliver a consistently exceptional experience to our customers, whether it is creating an exciting mobile experience for shoppers or ensuring our last-mile fulfillment promises are met.”
— Luke Jedeikin, co-founder of Bash
All of this was made possible due to VTEX’s partnership with AWS cloud-native servers, which provides an extremely scalable, highly reliable platform that enables customers to deploy applications and data quickly and securely.
*All information and numbers seen in the above text were provided and approved by TFG.
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