December 2024 Retail: A season of mixed fortunes

Salma Muhammad, Bhamjee’s Shoe Centre
Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA – It’s an absolute disaster. For the year up to December, we’ve been trading at 50% of what we normally trade at, and this month – when we would expect turnover to be much, much higher, we’re trading at what we would normally trade for the rest of the year.
     I’m blaming it all on Shein and Temu, and government’s complete lack of effective protection against them.
     We’re all guilty, and it’s not just footwear. My domestic helper is buying from them. I buy from them – not shoes, obviously! – but items like party goods, where I’d rather spend less. People at all levels have been buying from them, and no wonder – their shoe retail prices are frequently lower than my cost price for the same item.
     Talking to other retailers, it appears that we’re all affected by this.
     The banking sector says ecommerce is at an all-time high, but much of – most of it? – is going to offshore accounts.
     Government HAS to come to the party, or lots of businesses will close, and even more people will be out of work.


Dave Vallabh, Bilimoria Fishing Tackle
East London, E. Cape, SA – Business is very good. Our Vincent store mostly attracts locals, but our Beacon Bay store is a gateway to the Transkei resorts for visitors from the interior, and there are lots of holidaymakers.
     Most of our business is fishing tackle, but we do quite well with waders and shoes and sandals for fishing and work-related activities like sewerage, but on footwear specifically, there probably has been a drop because of Shein and Temu – there are lots of aqua shoes on their sites, and people will go for price. You can’t blame them, although buying sizes online isn’t easy.


Greg Bing, A.P. Jones
Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Trading for us from 01/12/24 to 18/12/24 has been average. We are meeting last years’ figures for the same period, but still nowhere near where we were pre-Covid. Some folk are suggesting that we are bloody lucky to be achieving the same turnover and that we should be grateful for this. They may have a point.

Kamlesh Chagan, American Clothing/The Vault
Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – It’s been strange trading the past few weeks.
     Black Friday fell on the month end weekend, instead of a week earlier previously. So the month end and Black Friday coincided and ended off fairly.
     But I’m of the opinion that consumers have lost interest in this Black Friday trend.
     Sales tapered off after 9th December and the past weekend of 13th picked up again. The past weekend was a good uptick and trade was brisk, but one can clearly see it’s about price and value for money. Customers do not have the disposable income to spend like previous.
     Retail has been like a “see-saw”.
     There’s been a delay in deliveries, especially with delays in shipping of both raw material for local production and imports. September and October footwear orders from the likes of Bolton, Eddels and, worst of all, Dick Whittington, only came through recently.
     As independent retailers we’ve changed direction, and our focus switched away from the big athleisure brands. We’re needed to rekindle our traditional outfitting offerings which is gaining momentum, thankfully.
     Strangely we’ve had an unseasonal demand for some of our winter clothing the last few weeks. Customers were shopping for warm clothing, jackets etc caused by our inclement weather of late.
     This year Christmas Eve is on Tuesday instead of Sunday last year, hoping that these two extra days assist us.
     We are hoping to end off positively, pay our bills and have better trading in 2025.