Annual retail sales decreased by 4.2% year-on-year in August, Statistics South Africa announced on Wednesday.
This is a smaller decrease than July's revised 8.6% year-on-year decrease, though it will be the fifth consecutive month that annual retail sales have declined. Seasonally adjusted retail sales increased by 4% in August compared with July 2020.
This followed month-on-month contractions of 0.6% in July 2020 and 5.1% in June 2020.
In the three months ending August, seasonally adjusted retail sales increased by 16.7% compared with the previous three months of the year.
Year-on-year, all categories expressed negative growth with the largest negative contributor to this decrease being all 'other' retailers with -38.8% growth.
This category comprises retailers in reading matter and stationery; jewelery, watches and clocks; and retailers in sports goods and entertainment requisites.
As spending remained subdued under lockdown, textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods also recorded a 10.2% annual decline, the second highest after 'other' retailers.
Retail sales decreased by 6.7% in the three months ending August 2020 compared with the three months ending August 2019.