{"id":803461,"date":"2024-12-09T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=803461"},"modified":"2024-12-09T12:01:30","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T10:01:30","slug":"great-news-for-retailers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/803461\/great-news-for-retailers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Great news for retailers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Retailers in South Africa are experiencing improved business conditions, with confidence among them rising to a three-year high in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Bureau for Economic Research’s (BER’s) latest Retail Survey, retailers\u2019 business confidence extended its positive momentum of the past two quarters, increasing by nine percentage points to 54% in Q4 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outcome of the survey, which was conducted between 24 October and 11 November 2024, puts overall confidence at its highest level in three years; largely driven by lower inflation and interest rate cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at some of the specific findings, semi-durable goods retailers (clothing, textiles and footwear) were Q4’s most optimistic group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Their confidence rose to its highest level since Q3 2007, driven by significant improvements in their sales volume and profitability indices,” said the BER.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retailers of non-durable goods (food, beverages, groceries, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals) registered the largest uptick in volume growth, boosting their confidence after a third-quarter slump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, confidence among retailers of durable goods (such as furniture, household appliances, and electronics) declined moderately in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This marked a break from a two-quarter period in which they were the main contributors to rising overall retail confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BER said that these retailers likely benefitted from two-pot retirement fund withdrawals, a possible driver for consumer spending in these categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, confidence among wholesalers rose to its highest level in four years during the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This boost was primarily driven by the consumer goods sector, which showed strong performance. The rise in wholesaler confidence aligns with an uptick in retail sector confidence and volumes, indicating a recovery in consumer demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe economy has benefitted from no load-shedding, political stability under the Government of National Unity (GNU), a relatively stronger rand, lower international oil prices, and two repo rate cuts since September,\u201d said the BER when discussing improvements in the Other Services confidence index.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Looking ahead, lower inflation and further interest rate cuts should help sustain momentum in the internal trade sector,<\/strong>” added the BER.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumer confidence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These retail figures come on the back of FNB\/BER’s recent consumer confidence index (CCI), which although showed a slight dip, shows that “festive season sales [are] still likely to be jolly.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having soared from -15 index points in Q1 2024 to a 5-year high of -5 in Q3, the FNB\/BER CCI edged one point lower, to -6, during Q4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BER said that although the latest reading remains slightly below the long-term average of the CCI (at zero since 1994), the -6 recorded in Q4 “is the best festive season consumer confidence reading since 2019, and far better than the -17 index points measured during 2023 Q4. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Source: FNB\/BER CCI Q4 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The BER said that despite the one-point decline in consumer sentiment relative to Q3, “the upsurge in the CCI since the end of 2023 points to a marked increase in consumers\u2019 willingness to spend during this holiday season.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: Trouble for hotels and restaurants in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new survey by the BER shows that retail confidence improved in Q4, with another boost anticipated as a result of holiday spending growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":795034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[17585,21221,21222],"class_list":["post-803461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bureau-for-economic-research-ber","tag-retail-confidence","tag-south-afri"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803461","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\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803461"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803485,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803461\/revisions\/803485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}