Pretoria - Retail trade sales in November grew by 6.8% year-on-year, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said.
Analysts had expected it to come in at 7.5% year-on-year.
The highest annual growth rate was recorded for retailers in hardware, paint and glass as well as retailers in household furniture, appliances and equipment as well as retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods.
The 6.8% increase follows a revised 7.5% increase in October.
In real terms, retail trade sales for the three months ended November 2011 reflected an increase of 7.3% compared with the three months ended November 2010. General dealers, followed by retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods and all other retailers were the largest contributors to the 7.3% increase.
"Today's retail sales data is likely to sway the South African Reserve Bank to keep interest rates unchanged at the conclusion of the first MPC meeting tomorrow," said Standard Bank on Wednesday.
The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will make its decision public on Thursday on interest rates.
"While it is evident that consumers are still struggling, which does not bode well for GDP growth, the Reserve Bank has maintained its commitment to keeping inflation within the official target," said Standard Bank.
It added that the central bank was likely to keep the repo rate at an unchanged 5.5% for this year.
