Retail trade increase beats growth rate

The increase in trading at shopping centres countrywide significantly outstripped South Africa’s economic growth rate last year.

Johannesburg - The increase in trading at shopping centres countrywide significantly outstripped South Africa’s economic growth rate last year.

Amanda Stops, the chief executive of the SA Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC), said community centres outperformed other retail centre types last year by boosting trading density by 8.7 percent year on year followed by small regional centres with trading density growth of 6.2 percent and regional shopping centres with 5.6 percent growth.

Outstripped

Stops said megamalls or super regional shopping centres notched up trading density growth of 4.9 percent year on year, while neighbourhood centres, the country’s smallest categorised shopping centres, lagged other centre types with the lowest trading density growth at 2.4 percent.

However, she said the increase in trading density achieved by neighbourhood centres still outstripped the country’s economic growth of 1.3 percent last year.

Stops’ comments follow the release this week of the latest MSCI IPD retail trading density index for the fourth quarter, which is compiled in collaboration with SACSC and tracks the performance of shopping centres based on information obtained directly from retail property owners and managers.

The latest edition of the index tracked 94 shopping centres with a combined gross lettable area of more than 4 million square metres.

Stops said the index allowed SACSC to track and monitor the performance of shopping centres and their retailers in the country. “It is valued as an important tool, considering the impact of varying social and economic factors affecting the retail sector,” she said.

Phil Barttram, an executive director at MSCI, said the index provided a unique perspective for mall owners to monitor and adapt to evolving trends. “Increased competition and changing consumer behaviour is already beginning to reflect in mall performance. As a result we see an increasing need for malls to differentiate themselves and clearly communicate their role within their catchment areas,” he said.

Stops said community centres achieved the highest average rand spend per square metre of retail space a month in the fourth quarter of last year for food and department stores.

Food index

She said the food index included grocers, liquor stores, sweets and speciality food stores, while the department stores category included shops of this size, including mini and junior department stores.

Stops said community centres were in a close second place for food services behind super regional malls. Food services included restaurants, coffee shops and fast food outlets.

Super regional shopping centres were the top performer in three of the five retail trading categories measured in the research. Apart from food services, super regional shopping centres also achieved the highest trading density for apparel trading and home décor stores.

BUSINESS REPORT