Black Friday dwarfs Boxing Day as Kiwis spend $250 million

New Zealanders spent $652 million over the Black Friday weekend. Photo / Getty Images

Kiwis spent $253 million on Black Friday, dwarfing the $63.8 million spent Boxing Day last year, according to figures from Paymark.

The only day that's been bigger in the last year was the Thursday before Easter, totalling $263m in sales.

Over the weekend and including Black Friday, Kiwis spent $652m, about 90 per cent of that was spent in physical shops.

Paymark, which processes about 75 per cent of the country's electronic transactions, says for some retailers Black Friday was the busiest trading day of the year.

Non-food and non-hospitality retailers experienced a sales increase of 42.6 per cent - the equivalent of $21m - on Black Friday, with spending growth extending through the weekend.

Department stores, clothing and furniture shops, along with sports equipment and toy retailers, experienced spending growth of over 60 per cent on Friday compared to the same day last year (Black Friday last year fell a week earlier).

Supermarkets, hairdressers and internet service providers also reported strong sales growth over the Black Friday weekend.

Paymark data shows there was a 28.7 per cent increase in the volume of transactions relative to a non-sales event Friday, this implied a higher average transaction payment, the result of a larger purchase or multiple transactions by shoppers on the day.

Over the three days of Black Friday and the Saturday and Sunday following, Kiwis spent a total of $652m - an increase if 12.8 per cent compared to the same three trading days last year, though falling a week earlier.

The total spend over the Black Friday weekend was a record, a Paymark spokesman confirmed to the Herald.

Auckland and Northland spent the most over the Black Friday weekend, $267m, compared to $73.4m in Canterbury and $62.7m in Wellington.

Wellington and the Bay of Plenty had the biggest sales growth over the Black Friday weekend, up 15.5 per cent and 14.3 per cent respectively.

Bay of Plenty spent $43.7m, while Waikato spent $47.1 per cent, Otago spent $36m, Palmerston North $20.6m and Hawke's Bay $17.9m.

Southland spent $15m, Taranaki $12m and Nelson $11.3m. South Canterbury spent $9.2m over the weekend, Marlborough $8m, Wairarapa just under $6m and Wanganui $5.9m Gisborne about $5m.

Paymark says the last seven days of Christmas are traditionally the busiest shopping days of the year. "There are likely to be three very busy shopping days this year, based on the pattern of 2013 when Christmas Day was last on a Wednesday, with possibly Christmas Eve pipping the Friday and Monday before as the busiest day," it says.

Spending in the 42 days before Christmas is up 3.4 per cent to date compared to the same days before Christmas recorded last year.