Investec's chief economist Annabel Bishop said with economic growth approaching zero, February's retail sales of growth of 4.1% y/y represented a slower pace than the boom years.
"Between 2003 and 2008 retail sales growth averaged above 7.0% y/y, indicating that today's outcome is not robust in this light. Furthermore, gross domestic product growth was 4.5% y/y on average over the period," she said.
General retailers made the biggest contribution, with growth of 2.2 percentage points, while textiles and pharmaceuticals contributed 0.8 and 0.5 percentage points respectively.
Retail trade sales increased 3.9% in the three months ended February compared to the same period last year.
Bishop said that retail inflation was weaker at 4.3% y/y, as "absorption in the retail margin persisted" because of weak consumer demand.
Citing a retail survey by The Bureau for Economic Research, Bishop said that only 44% of retailers reported that they were satisfied with prevailing business conditions as they have been forced to choose volumes over margin.
"However, retailers could start pushing through higher prices this year, which will negatively impact retail sales growth," she said.
Ian Cruickshanks a chief economist at the Institute of Race Relations said: "If you look at the total value of retail sales, that doesn't mean people are buying more goods."
"The prices of the goods are perhaps going up 10% and retail sales in value have gone up by 4%, so it means that people are buying less."
"Retail sales numbers include food, the price of which has rocketed. A bag of maize meal costs R30, while six months ago it was R20. So using maize meal as an example, people aren't necessarily buying more bags, but the cost of what they have been buying has risen," he said.
Seasonally adjusted sales increased 0.5% month on month in February 2016, with month-on-month increases of 0.7% in January and 0.1% in December 2015.
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