SAPOA (South African Property Owners Association) and IPD (Investment Property Databank) Retail Trends Report Q3 2010

The biggest retail winners out of the trading stemming from the FIFA World Cup in Q2 and Q3 of 2010 were super regional shopping centres and community centres, according to the latest figures from the IPD Retail Performance Benchmarking Service.

Large, high profile shopping centres were able to attract customers through their central location in tourist hubs and their marketing campaigns, while smaller centres also posted solid increases particularly in department store sales, specialty shops and jewellery. Of course, not all of the uplift can be attributed to soccer-related tourism effects. The sales growth trends reported by StatsSA show the months of Trading densities in the June quarter of 2010 were up on the same quarter of the previous year for all shopping centre types, although for regional shopping centres and small regional shopping centres the increases were only 1.3% and 1.4% respectively, both well below the rate of inflation over the same period.

Small regional shopping centres picked up a bit in Q3 with a 6.8% increase over the previous year, although regional growth remained muted in Q3 with only a 1.0% increase. Quarterly trading for super regional centres increased 6.6% in June and 8.7% in September, compared to the respective quarters of 2009. This is a welcome return to trend after the noticeable dip in sales in 2009. Community centres posted a staggering 28.4% Q2 increase over 2009 and a more typical 7.0% increase for Q3. These smaller centres have experienced stellar trading figures for the first three quarters of 2010, in each case at levels directly June and July with standout growth over the previous year, however this is solidly supported by steady growth in the remaining months of the year.

In all cases, the combined average trading density of Q2 and Q3 for 2010 was the highest on record. For super regional and small regional shopping centres this peak reversed a dip in the trend from 2009, while for regional and community centres it merely continued the upwards trend.