Sir Philip Green’s latest venture will take the fashion tycoon to South Africa, as Arcadia announced plans to open Topshop and Topman stores in the country.

The first store will open in Johannesburg in November, and the retailer expects South African consumers to respond well to the brands.

The South African economy has rallied well after its 2008 slump, with economic growth in 2012 expected to be 2.6% according to a report by Planet Retail. Retail sales in January grew 3.9% compared to the previous year.

Consumer spending is expected to be $219bn this year, or $4,291 per capita, while the population has reached 51 million.

South Africa hasn’t always been high on the priority list for retailers expanding abroad, but its improving growth and consumer confidence figures are likely to boost its attractiveness.

In the past, the country’s middle class hasn’t grown fast enough to attract some of UK retail’s biggest players, and its consumers haven’t always been interested in UK brands. But this is set to change, according to Planet Retail analyst Matthew Stych.

“It was a bit out of touch with the rest of the world until recently,” he says. “It wasn’t at the cutting edge of fashion, but that’s changing rapidly.”

Topshop competitor Spanish chain Zara already has a presence in the country, but Stych says the relatively small size of the middle class means brands like Topshop must pitch themselves as more upmarket than what they are perceived as in the UK.

“There aren’t that many consumers that can afford those kind of prices,” Stych says. “Companies like Zara have gone in and located themselves in more high-end malls than they would expect to in the UK.”

South Africa also has a mature domestic retail offer, with companies such as supermarket Shoprite snapping up market share. Some retailers, such as Walmart, have treated their expansion into South Africa as a strategic move, so that they are poised to move into the rest of Africa when the time is right.

There is nonetheless a gap for retailers such as Topshop, Stych says. “I would expect them to do pretty well. It’s an ideal opportunity to offset sluggish growth in Europe.”