Retail sales grow more than analysts expect in December

As expected, Christmas shopping was dampened by the growing popularity of November's Black Friday sales, causing the December figure to flag from November's 8.2% growth.

December's 5.3% figure brought the annual retail sales growth of 2017 to 3%, an improvement from 2016's 1.7% but not a full recovery to 2015's 3.3%, Statistics SA reported on Wednesday.

SA's fourth-quarter GDP growth will receive a fillip from retail, with the contribution from the sector for the three months coming in at 2.2%. Measured in current prices, December's total retail sales came to R117.8bn, up from R94.4bn in November and R109.8bn in December 2016.

Black Friday boosted November retails sales to 8.2% - surprising economists

Sunita Menon  18 Jan 2018

Of the seven retail categories that Statistics SA segments its monthly report into, "other" performed best with 14.7% annual growth in December.

This was predicted by Investec Bank economist Kamilla Kaplan, who said in her weekly note: "The performance of this category includes the effects of increased online shopping at retailers without physical outlets, and trade in second-hand goods, with weight and sampling amendments implemented earlier this year likely also having an effect."

Furniture retailers enjoyed the next best growth in December at 10%, followed by clothes retailers, which grew sales 5.9%.

Source: BDpro