Bash showing exceptional growth
Bash, owned by TFG, has achieved strong revenue and margin growth despite increased competition from Temu and Shein.
Bash was officially launched on 20 February 2023 by e-commerce veterans Claude Hanan and Luke Jedeiken.
Hanan and Jedeiken are well known as the founders of Superbalist, which was sold to Takealot. Following the acquisition, they served as Takealot executives.
After some gardening leave, they joined the TFG to accelerate the retailer’s e-commerce growth.
They have helped TFG become a top South African e-commerce player and one of the country’s fastest-growing online shopping channels.
Bash is a “one-stop shop” for hundreds of brands in the TFG group and has become a favourite among South African shoppers.
Sixteen months after officially launching the Bash apps in April 2023, it has surpassed 5 million unique app downloads.
Bash’s monthly active app users (MAU) surpassed 1.5 million, a 300% year-on-year increase.
Further good news for TFG is that the Bash app’s conversion rate — the percentage of users who purchase something – is more than double that of the web channels.
Bash’s financial performance is equally impressive. It achieved 60% year-on-year revenue growth and an 80% margin increase.
It achieved revenue and margin growth while its marketing and fulfilment costs decreased as a turnover percentage.
Simply put, Bash spent less and could still improve its financial performance. This points to strong tailwinds in the business.
What is particularly impressive is that Bash achieved these results during increased competition from Chinese retailers Temu and Shein.
The entrance of Temu and Shein has had a tremendous impact on the local online shopping market. It offers prices so low that local retailers cannot match them.
Despite the challenge from Temu and Shein, Bash has exceeded expectations in revenue and profit.
TFG CEO Anthony Thunström said Bash’s strong performance means its breakeven point has been brought forward.
Bash’s success showed that TFG’s decision to headhunt Hanan and Jedeiken to build their new e-commerce platform was a winning strategy.
The first phase of their work on TFG’s e-commerce platform and omni-channel plans has been a success.
The next phase includes adding utility to the app through TFG Money functionality, including a soon-to-launch digital wallet.
It has also added Jet to its increasing assortment of brands from which Bash users can choose.
Bash versus Superbalist
According to SimilarWeb data, Bash has built a significant traffic and engagement lead over its main South African competitor, Superbalist.
Bash attracted 6.2 million monthly visits in July 2024, compared to Superbalist’s 3.6 million. Bash also received more unique visitors than Superbalist.
The latest Google Trends also revealed that Bash has achieved strong growth after its launch, overtaking Superbalist in brand awareness.
Google Trends provides access to a largely unfiltered sample of search requests made to Google. This data can be requested for a specific country.
It provides a window into what people are searching for and the trend of whether a company’s search activity is increasing or decreasing.
The latest Reveal data also shows that TFG’s Bash is performing well against its main competitors.
Reveal offers independent, differentiated investment research and an inside view of consumer spending.
Its data, based on a sample of around 50,000 South African users, shows that Bash compares favourably in market share.
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