Foschini sale, checked

How Foschini sales really work

Foschini is one of the bigger TFG fashion chains, and it runs markdowns more or less constantly across clothing, shoes, beauty and homeware. That means a "sale" tag on its own tells you very little. The same dress can carry a red sale badge for weeks while the actual selling price drifts up and down underneath it.

What we watch for is the price the item genuinely held before the drop, not the was-price printed on the badge. Foschini fashion tends to follow a seasonal rhythm: full price at launch, a first markdown a few weeks in, then a deeper cut when the range is being cleared. The deals worth acting on are the ones sitting at or near the lowest we have recorded, which usually means the line is on its way out.

• Treat the was-price as a starting point, not the truth. Check it against the lowest and highest figures we have recorded for the item.
• End-of-season clearances on clothing and shoes are where the genuine drops cluster, more so than beauty, which discounts shallowly.
• A price that has only just appeared has no history behind it yet, so wait a little or lean on a similar item we have tracked for longer.