Johannesburg – It’s official: small retailers had a tough
festive season – at least according to data from Retail Capital.
Retail Capital provides working capital to business and
has collated data based on credit card turnover.
Retail Capital’s data indicates that retail sales of its
customers - across all sectors and regions – gained 4 percent year-on-year in
the last month of 2016, although food and beverage sales gained 13 percent over
the same period.
Statistics SA has yet to provide December retail figures,
although these are scheduled for February 15.
Retail Capital collects data from businesses including
restaurants, furniture stores, flower markets and bike shops rather than just
the major retail and food beverage groups.
Read also: Retail sales: green shoots or short-lived?
CEO Karl Westvig concedes that the data is not
comprehensive, due to small samples in some industries, it “does provide real
time information on how businesses are doing during a traditionally busy period”.
Overall, there was no increase in credit-card turnover of
Gauteng retailers and restaurants in December compared with the last month of
2015. However, in the Western
Cape, a 7 percent overall increase reflects a decline in retail sales
that’s offset by strong growth in food and beverage sales at restaurants, it
notes.
In Gauteng, the positive sales growth in retail and
restaurants was offset by negative growths in wellness and other smaller
sectors, including sport and recreation.
“When we break the industry down by region, the food and
beverage sector in the Western Cape grew by 15 percent, yet in Gauteng it grew
by 4 percent. The retail sector down south declined by 2 percent versus a
growth of 7 percent up north.
“Higher turnover at Western Cape restaurants could
indicate that more people are travelling locally than in previous years,”
Westvig says. “Many are frequented by tourists and bolstered by record tourism
numbers in Cape Town and Knysna.”
Retail Capital says the retail numbers confirm the
sluggish sales trends reflected in recent trading updates from major retail
groups.
“It’s evident that the consumer is choosing to spend
money on going out and having a good time rather than making discretionary
purchases at retailers,” Westvig notes.
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