Despite weak economic growth, retail trading performance as measured by the IPD Trading Density Index remains relatively robust.
The index quantifies sales performance as well as other key retail performance metrics across 24 merchandise categories in more than 100 retail centres, covering in excess of 4 million square meters.
South African GDP growth for the third quarter of 2015 came out at 0.7 % qq-saa (quarter on quarter seasonally adjusted annualized) meaning that the country steered clear of falling into a technical recession.
However, without annualization, growth came in at a paltry 0.1% q/q, meaning that the economy saw virtually no growth between the quarters. Higher interest rates and taxes, along with drought, global economic slowdown and weak commodity prices suppressed economic growth.
Read more here: SAPOA Retail Trends DEC 2015
