Pre-Christmas sales volumes are up for some major retailers but spending has slowed around the country. Photo / Alex Burton
Pre-Christmas sales volumes are up for some major retailers but spending has slowed around the country. Photo / Alex Burton
Retailers are still hoping for a rush of last-minute Christmas shoppers despite pressures from the cost-of-living crisis.
Spending hit $1.625 billion in the first 14 days of December, up 2.3 per cent on the same period last year and 15.2 per cent higher than in 2019, according to figures fromeftpos payment provider Worldline.
But Worldline NZ’s chief sales officer, Bruce Proffit, said: “This is not a large annual growth rate, especially when compared with price inflation.”
Briscoes owner Rod Duke said it was “too early to tell” if sales this December would match the record set by the retailer’s Black Friday sales last month.
“We had our biggest Black Friday event in the history of the company,” Duke said.
Both Briscoes and Rebel Sports experienced strong sales despite the tightening economy.
But other retailers did not do so well during the Black Friday period in late November, with Retail New Zealand chief executive Carolyn Young reporting sales down around 10 per cent this year.
Worldline figures showed spending through core retail merchants on Black Friday itself and the next day was down 5.8 per cent on last year.
Briscoes boss Rod Duke says it's still too early to tell if Christmas sales will surpass the company's record-breaking Black Friday sale volumes. Photo / Dean Purcell.
Bricks-and-mortar slowdown
Kiwi Property Group, which owns Auckland’s Sylvia Park and Lynnmall and Hamilton’s The Base, is also preparing for a rise in customers in the week before Christmas.
Head of communications Campbell Hodgetts said the business was expecting heavy foot traffic.
However, First Retail managing director Chris Wilkinson said physical retail might be slower this year.
Research by Bellwether showed a 7 per cent drop last week in footfall across most New Zealand shopping centres.
There was “some encouraging growth” in Auckland and Wellington but regional New Zealand has seen footfall reduce, Wilkinson said.
“It does seem like there are more people in city centres, which is quite a turnaround, but across the regions there is an overall drop in footfall.
Chris Wilkinson, managing director of First Retail Group. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“This season has seen a lot of people shopping online so, while stores don’t seem busy, retailers are doing extremely well.”
Some retailers were seeing demand grow, especially in areas like electronics, he said.
“There is a push from big retailers to go online, which is a continuing trend but more notable this season.”
E-commerce lifts retail spirits
Mighty Ape chief executive Gracie MacKinlay told the Herald that consumers were still leaving Christmas shopping to the last minute.
“I hear a lot of people saying they’re going to start shopping earlier for Christmas but, based on historical data, people always leave it to the last minute.”
Mighty Ape chief executive Gracie MacKinlay says the company has all hands on deck in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Last week, order volumes were almost 20 per cent higher for the same week last year with average order values down 6 per cent on last year.
The e-commerce retailer also found its sale and discount ranges rise 60 per cent in sales compared to last year while full-price product sales dropped 20 per cent.
“This is probably a reflection of people being more cautious with their spending with the high cost of living.”
She said a bigger proportion of products were also sold at discounted prices compared to last year.
“We saw growth from last year as well. This is the last week before Christmas and, based on historical trends, I don’t think it is going to be too different. It’s still going to be high volume.”
The main factor slowing down online shoppers was a fear of delayed orders, though she emphasised “online shopping is still pretty safe”.
“We have Jungle Express [same-day shipping] – that has a 99.7 per cent on-time delivery rate. So if you’re too scared of the traffic, parking and the crowds, online shopping is a good way to go.”
She said last Monday saw one item picked online every 1.9 seconds, while increased sales yesterday showed the popularity of leaving shopping to the last minute.
Alka Prasad is an Auckland-based business reporter covering small business and retail.
