PROFILE RETAILABILITY nearly doubled, while both customer experience and profitability improved. At 5 600m ², it remains a large-format store, but it now operates with greater efficiency, stronger category performance, and a significantly enhanced shopping journey.
A key component of the strategy has been the repositioning of beauty as a growth engine. Representing close to a third of total sales, beauty plays a dual role within the Edgars ecosystem – driving frequency while reinforcing aspiration. Its integration with fashion has reshaped stores into lifestyle destinations, increasing dwell time and cross-category shopping.
The key leadership lessons from this transformation are clarity, consistency, and alignment.“ Transformation requires making difficult decisions and communicating them clearly for execution to take place. It also reinforces the importance of data-led decision-making, discipline, and resilience – the latter, because nothing ever works out perfectly the first time. Having great teams consistently aligned around the shared long-term vision, and fixated on execution, is what drove our turnaround.” ■
While the redesign was informed by global retail trends, Drieselmann has applied the right-sizing strategy with a strong local lens. Each store is assessed in the context of the market it serves, with formats and assortments tailored accordingly. This localisation has been critical in a South African environment defined by diverse consumer needs, value sensitivity, and uneven economic conditions.“ South Africa’ s retail environment requires value, accessibility and relevance. Rightsizing, here, has meant careful market-by-market decisions focused on high-performing centres and tailoring store formats to local customer needs.”
The physical transformation of the store estate has been closely integrated with Retailability’ s digital strategy.“ A future-ready Edgars is customer-led, digitally integrated and profitable. It’ s a brand with fewer but stronger stores, a dominant beauty offering, efficient operations that are able to deal with the volatility in markets today, and the flexibility to evolve as consumer behaviour continues to change,” says Drieselmann.
SA PROFILE www. saprofilemagazine. co. za
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