The Group's footprint of 869 stores covers major metropolitan and rural areas in South Africa as well as neighbouring African countries.
Founded in Cape Town in 1934, Lewis Group has been listed on the JSE Limited since 2004. The Group employs over 10 000 permanent staff and is committed to promoting socio-economic change through its retail operations and supply chain being a strong supporter of the local furniture manufacturing sector.
Expanding brand portfolio
The Group has expanded its portfolio beyond the traditional Lewis chain by developing brands internally and acquiring established retail chains, while following a strategy of diversifying across income groups, market segments and product offering.
Lewis is the country’s largest furniture chain with 498 stores and is a household name in furniture retailing.
Best Home & Electric – was established in 2008 and sells home appliances as well as furniture ranges through 170 stores.
Beares – a well respected brand with a history dating back 94 years, was acquired by the Group in 2014 and currently has 150 stores.
Bedzone was established in 2022 as a specialist retailer of base sets and currently has 12 stores.
United Furniture Outlets (UFO) is a luxury brand cash furniture retailer which targets the higher income market. Established in 2004 and acquired by the group in 2018. UFO has a footprint of 39 stores in South Africa.
Lewis and Best Home and Electric target customers in the middle to lower income markets in the living standards measurement (LSM) 4 to 7 categories. Beares attracts customers in higher LSM (7 to 9) markets where the group has traditionally had limited exposure. Bedzone targets customers in lower to higher LSM (4 to 9) markets. UFO has a value offering to the upper income market, namely LSM 9+.
Monarch Insurance, the Group’s insurance subsidiary offers insurance cover to customers purchasing merchandise on credit.
Lewis was one of the first South African retailers to expand into Southern African countries as far back as the late 1960s. In 2016, the Group acquired a portfolio of 56 stores in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and eSwatini which at the time doubled its store presence outside of South Africa.
Lewis Group has extensive experience in managing credit risk in the lower to middle income market. Credit is offered to customers in the traditional retail brands of Lewis, Best Home & Electric, Beares and Bedzone. The Group has a credit customer base of over 640 000 active customers. Credit sales accounted for 66.2% of total sales in the reporting period. Credit is granted centrally at head office to ensure that credit risk policies are consistently applied and to remove subjectivity in the credit granting process. A compliance call centre ensures that governance and regulatory issues relating to credit contracts are explained to customers. Stores are responsible for cash collections and payment follow-up with customers, while the introduction of debit orders for account payments further supports the collection strategy.
Customers purchasing merchandise on credit are offered insurance cover by Monarch Insurance Company Ltd (Monarch), a subsidiary of Lewis Group, which offers direct insurance in South Africa and reinsurance in Botswana, Lesotho and eSwatini. The insurance product is optional for customers purchasing goods on an instalment sale basis and provides cover for death, disability, loss of income, or theft or damage to the goods.
Lewis Group recognises its responsibility as a business which not only has rights but responsibilities towards society and the environment in which it operates. The Group’s activities undertaken in support of this commitment are detailed in the Sustainability report.
