SA retail sales down 2.5% in March

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The largest negative annual growth rates were recorded for: all ‘other’ retailers (-18.5%); retailers in pharmaceuticals and medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries (-10.7%); and general dealers (-9.3%).

The main negative contributor to this decrease was general dealers (contributing -4.5 percentage points).

Seasonally adjusted retail trade sales decreased by 3.7% in March 2021 compared with February 2021. This followed month-on-month changes of 6.9% in February 2021 and -2.3% in January 2021. In the first quarter of 2021, seasonally adjusted retail trade sales increased by 1.5% compared with the fourth quarter of 2020.

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Retail trade sales decreased by 1.3% in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the first quarter of 2020. The main negative contributor to this decrease was all ‘other’ retailers (-18.7% and contributing -2.4 percentage points).