South Africa’s retail trade rose at a faster 3.5% year-on-year in November 2025, after an upwardly revised 3% advance in October and above market estimates of a 2.5% increase. This signaled the strongest growth in retail activity in four months, mainly on account of general dealers (+2.2%, +1.0 percentage points); all ‘other’ retailers (+8.0%, +0.8 pp); and retailers of pharmaceuticals, medical goods, cosmetics, and toiletries (+10.1%, +0.6 pp). Meanwhile, sales of food, beverages and tobacco continued to fall (-0.8% vs -2.3%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail trade went up by 0.6%, following an upwardly revised 1% rise in the previous month. Retail trade sales grew by 3.2% in the three months ended November 2025 compared with the three months ended November 2024.
