For some months now the rather encouraging overall official retail sales figures have been at odds with the poor results coming from the listed retailers. I even thought that perhaps these official figures were being "doctored" somewhat. That horrific suspicion prompted further analysis to determine what is happening in this sector. In a consumer-dominated society such as SA, retail sales are an important directional indicator, as they account for about one-third of economic activity. Statistics SA’s October retail sales figures showed a positive 3.2% year-on-year trend. Although this was significantly lower than the consensus of 5.4% and September’s upwardly revised number of 5.7%, this is still very buoyant, considering the seriously depressed nature of the economy.