Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March/April 2019 | Page 40

RETAIL
A light at the end of
the christmas tree
Festive season trade showed
slight improvement
G
rowth in trading density (sales per square metre) in
2018 at monitored shopping centres in South Africa
and Namibia continued to improve after a lacklustre
2017, according to a retail property barometer. 
The national December Clur benchmark showed a 2018
annualised trading density at centres of R34,057 with year-
on-year growth of 3.8%, says the Clur Report of SA Retail
Property which tracks performance and trends for property
funds owning more than 2.4 million square metres of physical
retail space in South Africa and Namibia.
The new Clur festive season benchmark, which combines
November and December trading showed an annualised
trading density of R45,669, with corresponding softer growth
of 1.8%. The new out-of-festive season benchmark, for the
January – October period, showed annualised trading density
of R31,689 and corresponding year-on-year growth of 4.2%.
“December’s traditional trading position has shifted over the
years due to November’s increasingly popular deep discount
sales. This has lead to an unfair expectation continuing to be
placed on December trading performance. For this reason it is
more relevant to view November and December as one longer
consolidated festive season period and to report and interpret
on this basis,” says Belinda Clur, managing director of Clur
Research International.
“Further, this shows that the two parts of the year played
differing roles in driving the overall 2018 shopping centre
trading picture. The November and December festive season
drove up trading density , whereas the rest of the year drove up
the growth level. This also points to the overall contraction the
retail market has seen in the latter part of the year.”
She says that looking at the trading dynamics of the centre
types, the higher growth seems to have been driven by both
the very large and the very small centres. 
“These two types of centres seem to offer a different
type of key convenience. The small centres offer day to
day convenience and the large centres offer destination
convenience with everything under one roof, usually along
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MARCH/APRIL 2019 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine
with more entertainment options. 
“What has emerged through 2018, though, is that a new
age of consumer culture has dawned. This values community
engagement, personal brand, experience and expression,
connectivity and technology, health and wellness, traditional
village themes, intimacy, substance and art, and the richness
of engaging the mind, body and senses. Given the consumer
focus, centres ranging from super regional malls to smaller
neighbourhood and community complexes,  report growth
categories including food speciality represented by deli’s and
artisanal and craft product outlets, home furnishings, gyms,
sports wear, health, beauty and wellness, travel and luggage,
restaurants, fast food, movies, cell phones, electronics,
optometrists, groceries, and later in the year, clothing for men,
women and children. 
“There is also a strong trend towards a social, sustainable and
ethical conscience, with the online democracy of knowledge
facilitating rapid global information sharing and trend setting.
This leaves few places to hide and makes brand and product
integrity critical. This is not a culture that will easily part with
hard earned money, especially as millennials value experience
above material goods. This is also not a culture that will trade
down in hard times, and we now see the advent of an extremely
fussy customer expecting the best of everything to motivate
hard earned spend. “
Belinda Clur says it is critical that the consumer is offered
a trendy, lifestyle, contemporary leisure and entertainment
focused community environment that can easily change
and adapt to the influences of the times. Synthesising key
elements of retail, work and home in a  relaxed, connected
and stimulating environment which encourages dwell time
first, which will then lead to spend is currently driving forward
thinking international property development and tenant mix
strategy, she says.
She adds that over 2018 the gap between trading density
performance and the consumer price index closed considerably.