BUSINESS DAY TV: The trend for retailers in 2017 is ‘not positive’, and tough for consumers too
Derek Engelbrecht, consumer products and retail sector leader at EY, discusses the outlook for the retail sector this year in light of last week’s credit downgrades
BUSINESS DAY TV: Retailers performed well last year despite the weakest growth in seven years. That’s according to research done by EY on the country’s 12 largest retailers, which account for R600bn in annual sales. But already, 2017 poses new challenges following the ratings downgrades by two of the top three global ratings agencies. Joining us with his insight is Derek Engelbrecht, consumer products and retail sector leader at EY. So, an ominous start to 2017. When we thought the economy was going to recover, it looks like the brakes may be placed on that already. Are you worried about the outlook for retailers this year? DEREK ENGELBRECHT: The trend is not positive. We’ve been seeing a downward trend for a while. The back-end of 2016 had a number of data points which were not helpful to the consumer. And 2017, unfortunately, is yet to disappoint us in the opposite direction and I believe that the momentum for getting more consumer pressure-induced factors are probably on the rise...
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