South African (SA) retail experienced robust growth in the third quarter of 2025, according to NielsenIQ\u2019s (NIQ) State of the Retail Nation report.<\/p>\n
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Consumers spent nearly R167.5 billion ($9.05\u202fbillion) on fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) through both traditional and modern trade channels, marking a year-on-year value increase of 7.1%, with unit sales up 8.7%.<\/p>\n
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While FMCG sales strengthened, the Tech and Durables (T&D) sector continued to face challenges. Declining smartphone sales and sluggish demand for other telecom devices led to a 3% drop in T&D spending to R21.5 billion ($1.16\u202fbillion), reflecting a shift in consumer priorities towards essential home and productivity products.<\/p>\n
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FMCG growth was led by non-alcoholic beverages, which rose 9.3% to nearly R22.6 billion ($1.22\u202fbillion), snacking at R12.3 billion ($665\u202fmillion, up 7.7%), and tobacco, which jumped 11.5% to R6.6 billion ($356\u202fmillion). Food, the largest category, increased 8% in value to almost R61.7 billion ($3.33\u202fbillion), while most other key segments, including personal care, health, liquor, and home and pet products, delivered steady growth. Baby food and care remained relatively flat at R3.5 billion ($189\u202fmillion).<\/p>\n
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Private label products showed slower growth, rising just 3.1% compared to 8.7% in the same quarter in 2024, while independent brands surged by 10.3%, reducing private labels\u2019 market share to 17.6%. Zak Haeri, Managing Director of NIQ SA, noted that shoppers remain cautious, balancing rising prices for staples like red meat, coffee, and maize meal by bulk-buying, leveraging promotions, and switching to lower-priced brands.<\/p>\n
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In the T&D market, consumers are focusing on home-centric essentials and productivity technology while reducing discretionary spending. Smartphones saw a 5% decline in value despite an 8% rise in unit sales, reflecting longer replacement cycles and limited product innovation. Major domestic appliances increased 3% in value and 8% in units sold, while small domestic appliances grew modestly, driven by products such as air fryers, coffee makers, and vacuum cleaners. IT sales rose 15% in units but only 3% in value due to discounting, and panel television sales remained flat.<\/p>\n
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Haeri highlighted opportunities for brands, particularly in FMCG, where shoppers are increasing shopping frequency to an average of five trips per month. \u201cManufacturers that respond with affordable, convenient, and value-driven products can capture these frequent visits,\u201d he said. In the T&D sector, he added, \u201cInnovation must align with purpose-driven consumers, delivering visible performance improvements and everyday value.\u201d<\/p>\n
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NIQ provides comprehensive insights into consumer behaviour across more than 90 countries, covering 85% of the world\u2019s population and over $7.2 trillion in global consumer spend.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16460,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-16459","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South African (SA) retail experienced robust growth in the third quarter of 2025","published_date":"2025-12-01 10:51:46","news_description":"South African (SA) retail experienced robust growth in the third quarter of 2025","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20258,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16459\/revisions\/20258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=16459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}