The Retailer Liaison Committee (RLC) released its Market Sales Report for July 2025. Its members’ sales accounted for 57.8% of total SA clothing sales.
Total Apparel, Homeware and Beauty recorded marginal sales growth of 0.6% y-y in September (August: 4.8% y-y), with a 6-month rolling growth of 5.1% y-y and a 12-month rolling growth of 5.9% y-y.
Total SA sales contracted 0.1% y-y for September, following sales growth of 5.1% y-y achieved in August.
Apparel and Beauty category sales declined 0.3% y-y in September. Menswear sales and Kids & Baby sales both contracted 2.3% y-y for September. Beauty sales maintained its good performance, growing 7.6% y-y. While Womenswear sales achieved growth of 1.2% y-y, volumes in Womenswear fell 2.8% y-y, suggesting sales growth was primarily driven by price inflation in this category, which was recorded at 4.1% for September.
Homeware sales grew 5.5% y-y for September (August: 9.7% y-y).
Total volumes declined 2.0% y-y in September (August: 1.1% y-y).
Total product inflation moderated to 2.7% in September (August: 3.6%).
The average unit price for the RLC was 93 in September (compared to R118.75 in September 2024).