South African retail sales grew by 0.8 percent year-on-year in July, after expanding by a revised 1.4 percent in June, data from the statistics office showed on Wednesday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 2 percent year-on-year increase in July.

On a month-on-month basis, sales fell by 0.4 percent, and were up 2 percent in the three months to July compared with the same period last year, Statistics South Africa said.