After months of mixed data, retail sales improve in September

Retail sales have posted an improvement after months of mixed data, rising to 3.1% year-on-year in September.

This after it rose by a revised 2.2% in August.

Stats SA said that all seven retail groups recorded a stronger month.

General dealers, retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods, as well as retailers in household furniture, drove most of the momentum.

The agency released the latest data on retail trade sales on Wednesday.

Deputy director for distributive trade statistics at Stats SA, Raquel Floris: "General dealers, which include supermarkets, increased by 1.9 % year-on-year. Textiles and clothing rose by 4.4%. Together, the two groups added 1.6 percentage points to overall growth. On a month-to-month basis, seasonally adjusted retail trade sales was flat in September 2025 compared with August 2025."