South Africa Retail Trade Growth Accelerates

2026-07-22 11:14 By Larissa Caser 1 min. read

Retail sales in South Africa increase 2.3% year-on-year in May 2026, accelerating from a downwardly revised 1.2% increase in the previous month.

Retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods gave the largest contribution, where sales rebounded by 3.7% following a 1% decline in the previous month.

Sales also remained steady among general dealers (1.0%, unchanged from April), while growth in pharmaceuticals, medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries retailers accelerated to 2.1% from 0.6%.

Meanwhile, sales growth slowed for retailers of household furniture, appliances and equipment (8.1% vs. 8.6%), and declined for food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores (-0.4% vs. -0.3%), and hardware, paint and glass retailers (-0.4% vs. 0.1%).

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales rose 0.1%, easing from a 0.9% increase in April.

Over the three months to May, retail trade increased 2.0% compared with the same period a year earlier.



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South Africa Retail Trade Growth Accelerates
Retail sales in South Africa increase 2.3% year-on-year in May 2026, accelerating from a downwardly revised 1.2% increase in the previous month. Retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods gave the largest contribution, where sales rebounded by 3.7% following a 1% decline in the previous month. Sales also remained steady among general dealers (1.0%, unchanged from April), while growth in pharmaceuticals, medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries retailers accelerated to 2.1% from 0.6%. Meanwhile, sales growth slowed for retailers of household furniture, appliances and equipment (8.1% vs. 8.6%), and declined for food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores (-0.4% vs. -0.3%), and hardware, paint and glass retailers (-0.4% vs. 0.1%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales rose 0.1%, easing from a 0.9% increase in April. Over the three months to May, retail trade increased 2.0% compared with the same period a year earlier.
2026-07-22
South Africa Retail Trade Rises in April
Retail sales in South Africa increased by 1.3% from a year ago in April 2026, following a downwardly revised 2.5% rise in the prior month. The largest positive contributors were all ‘other’ retailers (+7.3%); retailers in household furniture, appliances and equipment (+9.5%) and retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (+2.3%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales rose by 0.9% in April, accelerating from a 0.1% increase in the previous month. Retail trade went up by 1.8% in the three months ended April 2026 compared with the three months ended April 2025.
2026-06-17
South Africa Retail Trade Rises More than Expected
Retail sales in South Africa climbed by 2.6% year-on-year in March 2026, following a 1.6% increase in February and slightly above analysts' forecasts of a 2.5% rise. The key contributors were general dealers (1.7% vs -1.1% in February) and all other retailers (7.1% vs 9.9%). Higher sales were also recorded for household furniture, appliances and equipment (11.3% vs 8.8%); pharmaceuticals and medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries (5.4% vs 6.4%); and textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (4% vs 4.2%). Conversely, sales declined for food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores (-5.6% vs -5.3%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail trade went up by 0.1%, after a revised 1.1% decline in the prior month. Retail trade sales grew by 2.8% in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the first quarter of 2025.
2026-05-20