The Retailer Liaison Committee (RLC) released its Market Sales Report for June 2026. Its members’ SA sales accounted for 45.2% of total SA clothing sales. Total Apparel, Homeware and Beauty sales contracted 3.3% y-y in June (May: 3.7% y-y), with a 6-month rolling growth slowing to 2.2% y-y and a 12-month rolling sales growth of 2.7% y-y. Last year June 2025, total sales growth had also declined significantly (-5.1% y-y), mainly due to the earlier onset of winter weather compared to June 2024. There was a strong bounce-back in July 2025 (+6.5% y-y). Given that this year’s weather patterns are similar to those of 2025, there may be a similar recovery in July 2026, in our view. Total SA sales fell 3.8% y-y in June, while Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia & eSwatini (BLNE) sales were flat at 0.5% y-y. The Rest of Africa sales grew 4.9% y-y. Apparel sales declined sharply by 5.1% y-y in June. Womenswear sales fell 4.4% y-y, with Menswear sales down 3.7% y-y. Kids & Baby sales declined 7.4% y-y. Beauty sales grew 5.1% y-y in June (May: 4.0% y-y). Homeware sales slowed to 4.1% y-y in June (May: 5.6% y-y). Total volumes contracted by 3.9% y-y in June (May: 2.1% y-y). The sharp drop in apparel volumes could explain the significant markdown activity we observed for apparel retailers in our store visits in July 2026. The heightened markdowns may support July sales growth, albeit at lower margins. Product inflation cooled to 0.6% for June (May: 1.6%). The average unit price for the RLC was 07 in June (compared to R133.32 in June 2025).
