The Retailer Liaison Committee (RLC) released its Market Sales Report for February 2025. Its members accounted for 65.3% of SA clothing sales. Apparel, home and beauty sales growth moderated to 3.1% y-y in February (January: 7.9% y-y), with a 6-month rolling growth of 5.9% y-y and 12-month rolling growth of 4.2% y-y. Most categories showed flat sales growth during February. The best performing categories within Apparel and Beauty were Womenswear (+3.1 y-y) and Beauty (+4.4% y-y). Homeware sales continued its strong performance, growing sales by 8.3% y-y in February from the
1% y-y in January. Total RLC volume growth declined 0.4% y-y, following volume growth of 4.5% y-y in January. Only menswear (+2.5% y-y) and homeware (+2.2% y-y) grew volumes in February. Product inflation increased to 3.5% in February from 3.2% in January. The menswear category achieved an average price deflation of 2.1% in February, suggesting discounting activity during the period. The average unit price for the RLC was 27 in February (compared to R113.35 in February 2024).
