The Retailer Liaison Committee (RLC) released its Market Sales Report for December 2024. Its members accounted for 66.0% of SA clothing sales.
Apparel, home and beauty sales grew 3.3% y-y in December (November: 11.0% y-y), with 6-month rolling growth of 5.5% y-y and 12-month rolling growth of 3.5% y-y.
Most categories showed moderating sales growth in December, coming off a strong November trading period which we believe could have been aided by Two-Pot Retirement Withdrawals. Menswear (+4.9% y-y) and Beauty (+9.4% y-y) sales were the two best-performing categories, while Kids & Baby achieved flat sales growth of 0.8% y-y in December. Homeware sales moderated to 8.5% y-y in December, from the 11.8% y-y achieved in November.
Total RLC volumes were flat at 0.5% y-y in December. Menswear volumes grew 5.9% y-y in December, while Kids & Baby volumes contracted by 2.8% y-y.
Product inflation eased from 3.8% in November to 3.4% in December. Beauty inflation remains relatively high at 10.4%.
The average unit price for the RLC was R116.98 in December (compared to R113.14 in December 2023).
