"The festive season is just around the corner and the October figures, while modest at 2.7 per cent, suggest we'll see a lift in spending in the coming weeks.
"Typically we see spending build momentum from mid-November, and judging from experience, with Christmas falling on a Tuesday, spending is likely to peak on the preceding Friday, he said.
In the Bay of Plenty, regional figures showed there were 4.97 million transactions across the Paymark system last
month.
This was up 2.8 per cent from October 2011, when 4.83 million transactions were recorded.
The Auckland/Northland region recorded the highest number of transactions last month (31.74 million) while the West Coast recorded the smallest number of transactions (520,000).
Despite the boost in spending, Mr Whiston said retailers needed to be prudent.
"Christmas is always big, in terms of both the volume and total value of transactions, and all indications suggest that trend will continue in 2012. But spending has been irregular of late, up one month and down the next. It's important not to be too expectant _ anticipate a boost but not necessarily a boom.''