Recently launched fashion chain Ayana could have hundreds of stores, the CEO of its owner Pepkor told Reuters, as the South African retailer targets trendier customers and embraces the fast-fashion model of some rivals.

Pepkor, the owner of the budget Pep and Ackermans clothing chains, is underrepresented in the adult clothing market, especially womenswear. Recently, it expanded into that market by acquiring fashion businesses such as Legit, Style, and Swagga.

It launched 32 Ayana stores in February by converting discontinued Ackermans womenswear stores. The brand is more fashionable than Pepkor's core chains and aims to refresh its ranges more frequently, with some shoppers comparing its style and store layout to Inditex-owned Zara.

"This is not like a thousand-store chain. It will be, I suppose, a couple of hundred if it's really successful, maybe two or three hundred," Pieter Erasmus, chief executive officer of Pepkor, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Ayana targets fashion-conscious young women with its waistcoats, bow mini dresses, and collarless jackets, "but at a price which is affordable," Erasmus added, compared to international brands like H&M.

"Customers have responded well in the store, in sales, but also on social media. So we think that there's an opportunity for this brand in South Africa to do, again, I don't like using this word 'Zara-type' aspirational (fashion)," he said.

He added that Ayana was also trying to tap customers who "are currently buying from some Chinese (retailers like) Shein. There's an opportunity to really address that. So we're going to put a big effort into it."

Online-only retailers Shein and Temu have grown rapidly by shipping inexpensive products directly to consumers, forcing local retailers to find new ways of differentiating themselves.

Ayana currently sources its stock from Asia, particularly China, and locally in order to respond faster to changing trends, Erasmus said.

($1 = 17.9112 rand)