South African shoppers spend equivalent of $80bn in retail stores last year
Retail spending was up 2.9 per cent in 2017 compared to 2016. Stores that specifically sold food and beverages saw their sales rise by 5 per cent during the year. This is the second biggest annual growth rate listed following the miscellaneous all retailers category.
South Africans spend a trillion rand – that’s a million, million rand – in retail stores during 2017 according to new figures released by Stats SA this month.
That’s a staggering R31,700 spent every second, says a report this week on Business Live.co.za which checked the Stats SA fact sheet which examines the retail spending habits of of South African consumers, income and priorities.
It breaks the sector down into wholesale, retail, motor, food and beverages (restaurants and catering) and accommodation.
Retail spending was up 2.9 per cent in 2017 compared to 2016. Stores that specifically sold food and beverages saw their sales rise by 5 per cent during the year. This is the second biggest annual growth rate listed following the miscellaneous all retailers category.
Sales for hardware stores dropped for 2017 although general dealers had a low growth percentage of 1,1% they ruled the industry in terms of sales value. For every R100 that was spent at retail stores in 2017, R44 was spent by consumers at general dealers including supermarkets. Clothing and textile stores contributed R18 for every R100 of total sales.
The most popular commodity in the retail industry is meat. Meat makes up 8,1% of the total sales income for 2014/2015. Pharmaceutical products were in second on the graph with 5,4% and the third most poular product was female clothing.
The report showed that in 2014/2015 more than one-third of the 812 104 people working in the retail industry were employed in non-specialised stores. Clothing stores employ 23 per cent of the retail workforce.
Although non-specialised store employs the most amount of people their salaries are the lowest.
The average annual salary or a person working in a non-specialised store is R66,044 ($5,252), much lower than the average salary across the retail industry, which was R99,632 ($7,900).
