Kiwis spent almost trillion dollars through eftpos in past 30 years

Electronic spending through Paymark has almost reached $1 trillion. Photo / Natalie Slade

Eftpos first arrived in New Zealand in 1989. It was back when wine first began being sold in supermarkets, and David Lange was Prime Minister of the country.

Back when the population size was just shy of three million people.

Fast forward 30 years, and with an additional near two million people, New Zealanders have since then collectively spent close to one trillion dollars through the network of eftpos company Paymark, which processes 75 per cent of the country's electronic card transactions and owns the system that moves money between the banks and retailers.

According to Paymark's 30 Years of Eftpos report, New Zealanders have spent $17 billion on food, drink and groceries in the past three decades, and almost $9b on dining out.

About $50b has been spent on discretionary items in the past 30 years, close to $5b on fuel, and another $1.6b on accommodation.

Electronic spending has been on an upward trajectory in this country for decades, with spending exceeding that of the previous year almost consecutively, even through the Global Financial Crisis.

In the past 15 years alone, electronic spending through the Paymark network has increased by 117 per cent.

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One of the early adopters of eftpos, digital spending in New Zealand took off following the arrival of the internet in the late 90s and early noughties, revolutionising retail in this country.

Paymark spokesman Paul Brislen said the widespread adoption of eftpos in this country had been "astonishing".

"We knew that Kiwis really embraced eftpos transactions in the early days, but to see that rise in use right across the board so early was quite astounding. By 1999 to 2000, we were doing 400 million transactions annually, that figure has grown across time - today, we are doing four times that - in 20 years we've leapt to 1.6 billion transactions each year," said Brislen.

The first eftpos terminal was installed in New Zealand in 1989, shortly after it launched in Australia, at a Shell petrol station. Back then just one million transactions were going through the Paymark network annually.

Today, 1.6 billion transactions are processed each year, with 150 transactions happening each second, the equivalent of 325 transactions per person every year.

Paymark says it has saved customers $8b in bank fees in the past 30 years. Brislen said uptake in eftpos and electronic transactions had been a lot slower in Australia due to existing transaction fees.

The rise in eftpos has seen the near extinction of bank cheques. In the early days, electronic payment was mainly used for lower-cost purchases such as petrol or a couple of items from the local grocery store. Today, it is used for next to everything.

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"Because eftpos doesn't charge a per-transaction fee in the way that they do overseas, retailers jumped at it, and so did consumers because suddenly you didn't have to carry cash. Retailers loved it because you didn't need a flow to make change and [no longer] had to accept cheques, all that manual processing that went on became automated," he said.

In 2004, Kiwis spent close to $5.5b at the supermarket, this has increased three-fold in the past 15 years, now in excess of $15b annually today.

"It is easy to forget just how vital the retail sector is, and how big part of the overall economic pattern retail is."

Even during the economic downturn in 2007, Kiwis were largely undeterred from spending.

Spending through the Paymark network was virtually undisrupted during the GFC. Total spend through the network was just over $300b in that year, up on the year before and from the $250b recorded two years prior.

"The internet came along and changed everything. People are now much happier buying goods online and getting them delivered ... the rise of instant purchase and to have it delivered at home has impacted retail, and payment itself."

A Reserve Bank study found that the elderly and children are keeping cash alive in this country, with 85 per cent of New Zealanders using electronic bank cards as their main payment method.

About 85 per cent of Kiwis say they no longer pay with physical cash. Photo / 123RF

The study found that nine out of 10 people prefer to "not use cash" and 60 per cent of people were un-fazed about the declining availability of physical currency.

About three-quarters of the population said they still carried "some cash", with women found to be more likely to have hard cash in their wallets.

Brislen said he believed New Zealand would at some point in the future become a cashless society, though with more cash in circulation today compared to 30 years ago, even taking into account population growth, he said it would likely not be any time soon.

Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford said eftpos had "undoubtedly" contributed to the significant growth of New Zealand retail in the past 30 years.

"From a consumer's point of view, eftpos was convenient because they didn't need to carry cash, and from a merchant's point of view, it meant they could avoid the costs and security risks of handling cash. Consumers and merchants both typically incurred charges to use eftpos [in the early days] but these were quickly eroded by competition between the banks," Harford said.

"Eftpos has also made it easy for people to buy goods and services, and has undoubtedly contributed to the growth of NZ retail over the last 30 years."

What's next? The post-plastic world

Plastic debit and credit cards will slowly be replaced with apps on the smartphone. And payment companies will make use of paying via the use of biometrics, such as through payment with your face, thumbprint or even voice command.

Paymark has already begun developing infrastructure to accommodate payment via selfie - paying with your face, and is trialling it with a number of New Zealand companies, including BurgerFuel.

"[Developments] are all about giving control to the shopper and getting convenience and security to the retailer, keeping up with user demand which at the moment is smartphones," Brislen said.

"With technology, what was science fiction yesterday becomes readily accepted quite quickly."

Online eftpos came about in the last couple of years, as part of the open banking drive, and is beginning to take off. Two of the big four banks - ASB and Westpac - are on board so far, Brislen said, along with Heartland and the Cooperative Bank, and "dozens" of retailers.

"Online eftpos, the growth is really based on ubiquity - you need to have all the banks able to use it and then the retailers will get on board. It's growing, but it is taking longer."