"You can definitely tell that people are looking for a bargain. They'll look at something and think about it - many people are putting it back."
Milford's Helen Fu, 43, said her family were being more frugal this year because she felt prices were still going up.
Usually it was a season where, as well as gift-giving, her family picked up big ticket items for their home.
"Last year we bought a TV and we changed some furniture, we won't do that this year."
The showery weather over the weekend meant packed days for retailers and by mid-afternoon yesterday parking spaces were at a premium with parking attendants directing traffic.
Hema and John Broad from Blockhouse Bay said they usually preferred to leave their shopping at this time of year until 8pm so they didn't have to fight through packed aisles. The weather sent them out earlier in the day.
The pair, with hands full of shopping bags, said they were starting to make good in-roads for 16 family and friends on their list. They weren't so worried about cost.
"For us, it's finding the right thing for the right person," Mrs Broad said.
Others such as Vinay Prasad, 35, from Papatoetoe reckoned the stress of shopping was better left to his wife.
"I just give her my card and we're both happy."
His end of the deal - the better half he thought - was to look after their two-year-old son Pritiri who was happy being pushed in a shopping trolley.
Latest figures from Paymark, which processes more than 75 per cent of electronic transactions in the retail market, showed sales through its eftpos network on Saturday at $173 million for the day - up from $155 million on the previous Saturday.
Nationally, spending in the first half of December was up by 4.4 per cent on the same period last year to almost $2 billion.
Auckland/Northland tills saw the most action with an 8.9 per cent increase compared to the same period a year ago.
New Zealand Retailers Association chief executive John Albertson said his members were cautiously optimistic of a good season and were cheered by Christmas falling on a Sunday, giving shoppers a last Saturday to shop.
"The one thing New Zealanders do extremely well is they leave everything till the last minute. We're experts at that."
Retailers had been a little more restrained in their discount and special offers but were using a mixture of promotions, such as one-day deals or savings off particular items, to get people spending.
"Retailers have to manage their margins this time of the year when they get a fair proportion of the year's turnover.
"They've actually got to make it work," Mr Albertson said.
"It's still a pretty tough market and everyone is after their share of the Christmas dollar so there are some very good buys at the moment."
