NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Companies / Retail

By the numbers: NZ Post figures reveals what happened to online spending following return to lockdown level 3

Aimee Shaw
By Aimee Shaw
Business Reporter·NZ Herald·
30 Sep, 2020 04:50 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Chris Wong, NZ Post head of e-commerce, at the NZ Post distribution centre in Highbrook. Photo / Dean Purcell

Chris Wong, NZ Post head of e-commerce, at the NZ Post distribution centre in Highbrook. Photo / Dean Purcell

Online spending surged last month almost immediately after Auckland moved back into alert level 3 and the rest of the country level 2.

Spending in Auckland grew five times faster than elsewhere in the rest of the country in the month of August - a 70 per cent increase on the same time last year. Transactions from the Auckland region made up 43 per cent of every dollar spent online last month.

New figures from NZ Post show online sales rose significantly in August while transactions from physical shopping declined. Photo / Dean Purcell
New figures from NZ Post show online sales rose significantly in August while transactions from physical shopping declined. Photo / Dean Purcell

New figures from NZ Post show online sales rose significantly in August while transactions from physical shopping declined, this was in line with the trend seen under level 3 in May.

Auckland's 70 per cent growth in online shopping in August was slightly above the highest point of 68 per cent experienced during the first lockdown period.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The state-owned enterprise said the rise in Covid-19 alert levels saw an overall spike in online shopping - but not to the dizzy heights of April and May, under the first lockdown.

More than $511 million was spent online in August, an 31 per cent increase on the same time last year. This was a significant increase on July, which was up 18 per cent on 2019.

While August numbers were big, the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on shopping behaviours was less extreme than the first time the country moved into lockdown, NZ Post's latest eCommerce Spotlight report outlined. In April, the online spend increased by 56 per cent on the previous year, compared to 31 per cent in August.

Chris Wong, NZ Post general manager of business marketing, said 71 per cent of online orders in August were with a domestic retailer, a continuing trend observed since the end of March.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"What we also saw was the shopping habits of New Zealanders; people choosing to buy the same things online - food and groceries and homewares and electronics were two categories that continued to grow strongly across the month," Wong said.

"Spend in the second lockdown was lower than what we saw in the first Covid lockdown. We didn't have an alert level 4 which caused pent-up demand and a big spike in volumes that we saw in the first Covid lockdown. There was a difference, we grew 31 per cent in August whereas if you look at May the online spend grew 56 per cent.

Discover more

Retail

NZ Post reveals huge volumes through its network during alert level 3

04 Aug 09:00 PM
Retail

NZ Post report reveals what Kiwis were buying before lockdown 2.0

03 Sep 05:42 AM
Retail

Death of the high street? Why growing retail vacancies across NZ is concerning

18 Sep 05:50 AM
Small Business

Lessons from lockdown: Why Auckland retail chain is expanding

28 Sep 07:28 PM
The NZ Post distribution centre in Highbrook. Photo / Dean Purcell
The NZ Post distribution centre in Highbrook. Photo / Dean Purcell

"Auckland [online spending] growing 70 per cent was a big surprise to us. Being 70 per cent up on the same time last year was good to see and there was parallels with what we saw in the first Covid lockdown."

Approximately 1.3 million New Zealanders shopped online in August - one of the highest numbers in a single month NZ Post has seen this year. Of those 24,000 were shopping online for the first time.

"Of all the demographics everything increased, but similar to the first lockdown we saw the fastest-growing group were those aged over 75," Wong said.

In 2019, online shopping grew about 13 per cent accounting for about 9.8 per cent of all retail spending in this country. In the past eight months of 2020, online shopping has accounted for 11.8 per cent of all retail spending.

Source: NZ Post
Source: NZ Post

NZ Post is the largest delivery business for online shopping in New Zealand. Wong said it was hard to know how the economic downturn would affect online spending in the lead-up to Christmas.

"March signalled the beginning of one of the most unpredictable and rapid-growing periods for online shopping and that's been driven by Covid and the pandemic. This has seen a huge number of new shoppers join online as well as some categories really growing."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

S&P Global says NZ Post's surge in parcel volumes following New Zealand's heightened lockdown status has increased delivery costs and required additional investment to cater for growth.

The financial research company said even though this weighed on NZ Post's operating performance in the second-half ended June 30, "the company's relatively strong trading performance in the first-half propelled a return to profit for fiscal year 2020, compared with a loss in fiscal 2019."

NZ Post is the largest delivery business for online shopping in New Zealand Photo / Dean Purcell
NZ Post is the largest delivery business for online shopping in New Zealand Photo / Dean Purcell

S&P expects the boom in e-commerce to propel parcel volumes, but said more investment in its infrastructure and distribution network was required to meet growing demand.

"Based on its current scale and run rate, we do not expect the group to generate sufficient operating cash flows amid declining letter volumes and to fund required infrastructure investment, absent of government support.

"We view long-term government support as necessary to cover NZ Post's shortfalls in free operating cash flows to maintain balance-sheet liquidity and prevent leverage from increasing."

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Retail

Retail

Foodstuffs to open $73m Pt Chevalier store early after Vic Park fire

04 Jul 03:55 AM
Premium
Business|economy

18,800 people booked for NZICC; anaesthetists, ophthalmologists the latest

03 Jul 10:39 PM
Retail

Consumer NZ calls for action on 'shrinkflation' amid rising concerns

03 Jul 05:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Retail

Foodstuffs to open $73m Pt Chevalier store early after Vic Park fire

Foodstuffs to open $73m Pt Chevalier store early after Vic Park fire

04 Jul 03:55 AM

Foodstuffs' Pt Chevalier store will open on August 19, earlier than planned.

Premium
18,800 people booked for NZICC; anaesthetists, ophthalmologists the latest

18,800 people booked for NZICC; anaesthetists, ophthalmologists the latest

03 Jul 10:39 PM
Consumer NZ calls for action on 'shrinkflation' amid rising concerns

Consumer NZ calls for action on 'shrinkflation' amid rising concerns

03 Jul 05:00 PM
Woolworths mistakenly tells 500,000 members they will receive a gift voucher

Woolworths mistakenly tells 500,000 members they will receive a gift voucher

03 Jul 03:13 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP