April’s retail sales growth remained robust for most categories, even though the ambient SA economy is hardly growing at all. Year-on-year percentage change in retail sales in April at constant 2029 prices was a solid 5.1%. This compares with 7% in January, 4.1% in February and 1.2% in March.
There was perhaps a degree of distortion when comparing April 2025, which contained a full Easter period, with April 2024, which only contained Easter Monday as most of Easter fell in the last three days of March 2024. Yet, it maintained the trend of positive growth every month since the beginning of the year, and that hasn’t happened for many years.
The favourable trend is due to a number of factors, such as improved consumer sentiment, lower interest rates and far less load-shedding. Access to funds from the so-called “two-pot” pension system may also be a contributing factor.
In broad terms, the big winners among the various categories of spending were the discretionary areas of semidurables (clothing, footwear, textiles & leather — CFTL) and durables (furniture & appliances). This underlines the view that consumer spending is not just about satisfying basic human needs but is now at the stage of whetting the appetite for more luxurious goods.
The strongest category in April was CFTL, with a 12.5% year-on-year rise. This sector has been strong for some time now, especially since the playing field was levelled regarding imports of cheap online clothing from the Far East in terms of the de minimis regulations last year. JSE-listed retailers in this category include TFG, Mr Price, Truworths, Pepkor and Woolworths.
The second-best performing category after CFTL was household furniture, appliances & equipment. This includes all “big ticket” items of consumer expenditure such as beds, furniture, TVs and sound systems, much of which tends to be bought on credit rather than by cash. Year-on-year growth in this category in April was 9.2%, after strong growth of 5% in March, 5.9% in February and 7.9% in January.
The only true pure play JSE-listed retailer in this category is Lewis Group. Pepkor incorporates large unlisted furniture and appliance retailer JD Group, but Pepkor is a retail conglomerate rather than a focused furniture retailer. Consumers are losing their fear of credit purchases, as illustrated by the far greater use of credit compared with cash in these retailers, and that trend is likely to continue as interest rates fall further.
Third-best performer was general dealers, which includes supermarkets. This category, though generally quite strong, has shown a reasonably volatile trend in recent months. This is to be expected in a category where competition is fierce and in-store promotions can have a hugely distorting effect. JSE-listed operators here include Boxer, Pick n Pay, Shoprite and Spar. Year-on-year growth in this category was 5.3%, compared with a drop of 0.1% in March and growth of 3.6% in February.
Fourth spot is taken by pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries, which grew 2.8% year on year in April, compared with 7% growth in March and a 0.1% decline in February. This category has shown far more resilience in recent months, after a period of relative weakness last year. Main JSE-listed companies in this category include Clicks and Dis-Chem.
Just slightly behind this was food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores. These tend to be convenience-type food stores, which grew 2.6% year on year in April after declining 2.3% in March and 3.2% in February.
The only category to exhibit negative growth was hardware, paint and glass, a proxy for home improvement/DIY, which went backwards in April by 8.3%. This follows 1.8% growth in March and a 3.8% decline in February. JSE-listed companies in this category include Cashbuild and Italtile.
As always in Stats SA’s retail sales figures, there is an entry for “all other retailers”. This hodgepodge includes bookshops and stationers, jewellers, sports good retailers, second-hand shops and retailers such as Takealot that don’t have physical stores. Considering the wide variety of goods sold in this category, time series are meaningless.
• Gilmour is an investment analyst.
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