Superbalist founders strike gold twice with Bash
After launching Bash four months ago, Superbalist founders Luke Jedeikin and Claude Hanan are competing against the country’s most successful online fashion retailer – and winning.
Hanan and Jedeikin started their eCommerce journey in November 2010 when they founded Citymob with business partner Daniel Solomon.
Headquartered in Cape Town, Citymob quickly became a favourite among online shoppers thanks to its exclusive experiences, premium products, and hand-selected styles.
In 2013, Citymob pivoted the business to fashion eCommerce as Superbalist, which became South Africa’s largest online fashion retailer.
The company was acquired by Takealot in 2014 and four years later merged with Spree to create a South African online fashion powerhouse.
Hanan and Jedeikin were the driving force behind Superbalist’s success and served as co-CEOs until their departure in December 2019.
They built Superbalist from a self-funded startup to South Africa’s most recognisable online fashion outlet, boasting annual sales exceeding R1 billion.
In 2021, the two founders joined The Foschini Group (TFG) to help the company realise its eCommerce ambitions.
This year, the two launched Bash, an eCommerce and consumer-facing brand offering all TFG’s brands on one platform.
Since its launch in February, Bash has grown faster than even Hanan expected, he told Daily Investor.
Bash has garnered over 500,000 customers since its launch and skyrocketed to the number one spot in the Apple App Store for all categories and is ranked second in the Google Play Store’s shopping category.
According to data from SimilarWeb, Bash has overtaken Superbalist in terms of traffic and engagement.
Bash attracted 4.151 million monthly visits in May 2023, compared to Superbalist’s 2.790 million. Bash also received more unique visitors in May compared to Superbalist.
TFG recently reported that app sales surged to over 35% of online sales within the first two months. Furthermore, the app’s conversion rate exceeded mobile web by around 200% and desktop by over 80%.
Hanan said Bash’s success in only a few months speaks to the “firehose of demand” that exists for this product.
He said listed entities have decades of active customers and brand equity that are often under-utilised because it can be difficult to find unity among several brands.
TFG has gotten this right through Bash, he said, as it provides one platform containing all brands through which all the demand is concentrated.
BashversusSuperbalisttraffic growth
Engagement comparison
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