The Retailer Liaison Committee (RLC) released its Market Sales Report for February 2026. Its members’ SA sales accounted for 45.3% of total SA clothing sales.
Total Apparel, Homeware and Beauty recorded improved sales growth of 3.4% y-y in February, (January: 6.1% y-y), with a 6-month rolling growth of 2.9% y-y and a 12-month rolling growth of 4.3% y-y.
Total SA sales grew 3.5% y-y in February, while Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia & eSwatini (BLNE) grew 3.3% y-y. The Rest of Africa sales contracted 0.8% y-y in February (January: 2.3% y-y).
Total Apparel sales grew 3.2% y-y in February. Womenswear sales increased by 5.2% y-y, while Menswear sales rose 4.3% y-y. Kids & Baby sales contracted 1.5% y-y, following a rebound likely caused by back-to-school shopping occurring in the prior month.
Beauty sales growth accelerated 12.1% y-y, while Homeware sales slowed sharply to 1.7% y-y in February.
Total volumes grew 1.9% in February (January: +2.5% y-y).
Total product inflation cooled to 1.5% for February.
The average unit price for the RLC was 23 in February (compared to R116.50 in February 2025).