{"id":762167,"date":"2024-03-20T15:25:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T13:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=762167"},"modified":"2024-03-20T15:25:15","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T13:25:15","slug":"retail-sales-take-a-knock-in-south-africa-but-relief-is-on-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/762167\/retail-sales-take-a-knock-in-south-africa-but-relief-is-on-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Retail sales take a knock in South Africa &#8211; but relief is on the way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Retail sales are down, but the expected interest rate cuts in the second half of the year should support household consumption expenditure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to data from Stats SA, retail sales measured in real terms (constant 2019 prices) dropped by 2.1% year-on-year in January 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The largest contributors to the decrease were: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods&nbsp;(-6.6% and contributing -1.2 percentage points);<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Retailers in pharmaceuticals and medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries (-4.4% and contributing -0.4 of a percentage point); and<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>All \u2018other\u2019 retailers (-2.9% and contributing -0.4 of a percentage point).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Seasonally adjusted retail trade sales dropped by 3.2% from December 2023 to January 2024, following a month-on-month increase of 1.3% in December. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Retail trade sales did, however, increase by 0.4% in the three months ended January 2024, compared to the prior three months ended January 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, seasonally adjusted retail sales dropped by 0.3% in the three months ended January 2024 compared to the prior three months. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/retail-march-20.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"739\" height=\"168\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/retail-march-20.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-762169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/retail-march-20.jpg 739w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/retail-march-20-300x68.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 739px) 100vw, 739px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Confidence among retailers remains subdued, with the latest<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/761339\/social-unrest-worries-shake-confidence-in-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> BER Q1.24 retail survey<\/a> suggesting that only a third are satisfied with prevailing business conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The BER said that the decline in retailer confidence could be due to poor profitability and the perceived risks around the upcoming national election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-businesstech wp-block-embed-businesstech\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"8EYXFhvuUI\"><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/761691\/when-south-africa-should-finally-catch-a-break\/\">When South Africa should finally catch a break<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;When South Africa should finally catch a break&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/761691\/when-south-africa-should-finally-catch-a-break\/embed\/#?secret=kwgD0fmZ5F#?secret=8EYXFhvuUI\" data-secret=\"8EYXFhvuUI\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/762043\/this-is-the-average-take-home-pay-in-south-africa-right-now-29\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BankservAfrica <\/a>also noted that the nation&#8217;s severe ongoing economic challenges, including load shedding, logistics troubles, and geopolitical risks, have impacted the ability of companies to pay inflation-related salaries to employees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Outlook<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Investec Economist Lara Hodes said that the SARB is projected to cut rates later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This should provide the indebted with some relief and boost sentiment. boosting household consumption expenditure and, in turn, retail trade sales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The BER also noted that lower levels of load shedding, moderating food inflation and interest rate cuts (pencilled in for July) should result in a more noticeable recovery in retail trade from Q3 2024 onwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/761435\/south-africans-are-in-love-with-small-shopping-malls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">South Africans are in love with small shopping malls<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stats SA says that retail trade sales dropped in January of this year &#8211; but consumer relief from the SARB could help retailers in the near future. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":732325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26,1498,1809],"class_list":["post-762167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline","tag-investec","tag-stats-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":762223,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762167\/revisions\/762223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}