Jane Spafford grabs some last-minute Christmas gifts at Westfield Albany last night. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Jane Spafford grabs some last-minute Christmas gifts at Westfield Albany last night. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Kiwis are flocking to the shops to spend up big. Figures released by Paymark show the electronic payments provider has had its biggest weekend this year.
A record 11.8 million transactions, equating to $604.1 million of spending, were processed by Paymark from December 20 to December 22 - and the biggest shopping day of the year comes tomorrow.
Paymark chief executive Mark Rushworth said the results were consistent with strong spending growth this Christmas season.
"We've seen an across-the-board increase in spending throughout December," he said.
"The growth rate was not as strong over the weekend but we did see new highs for the year."
Friday was the year's biggest spend, with $225.5 million spent nationwide through the Paymark network.
"Typically we see between 50 and 60 transactions a second but already we're seeing 115 to 120 transactions per second, so we are expecting a very big day on Thursday."
Greg Harford, of Retail NZ, said Christmas-related spending was on the rise.
"Certainly for the first couple of weeks of December we were about 7 per cent up compared to last year, which is really good.
"Retailers will be pretty pleased that people are getting out and spending."
While Paymark figures showed an increase in spending, they also showed a higher number of individual transactions.
"People are spending more than they were last year, but they're spending on an increased number of transactions so people are buying slightly cheaper too," he said.
While online shopping remains popular, Mr Harford said some online retailers were also opening brick-and-mortar stores.
Christmas shoppers at the busy Sylvia Park shopping centre in Mt Wellington, Auckland. Photo / Doug Sherring
"What we're seeing is that online is definitely a key channel for consumers and it's part of the retail mix nowadays.
"Customers are increasingly expecting a physical and an online presence and retailers are responding to that demand."
Online sales were not keeping shoppers away from malls - research conducted by Mastercard this month showed only 16 per cent of shoppers had, or would be, heading online to buy gifts this Christmas.
"I think people still enjoy the experience of a shopping centre," said Deb McGhie, a spokeswoman for Westfield.
"It's a place where people can come and meet, take in time for coffee, as well as doing their Christmas shopping."
Children's tastes continued to drive the popularity of gift items, Mr Harford said.
"The big sellers that we're certainly aware of this year have been Star Wars, on the back of the new movie coming out. Frozen continues to be a very popular choice for kids and the other thing is Thunderbirds, on the back of the new TV series."
Homewear, fashion and accessories were also popular choices, he said, and grocery shopping ahead of Christmas lunch was also on the rise.
Despite the increased popularity of pre-Christmas sales, both Ms McGhie and Mr Harford said customers could expect to scoop a good deal at the Boxing Day sales - traditionally the second busiest shopping day of the year after Christmas Eve.
Christmas shopping in Bayfair shopping centre. Photo / George Novak
This could possibly affect the traditional spending peak on Christmas Eve, he said, but retailers still expected it to be the busiest day of the year.
The popular option of gift cards as a Christmas present would also keep Boxing Day popular, Ms McGhie said.
"They'll want to take the opportunity to redeem those and they may be able to get things cheaper than normally."
Five last-minute Christmas gift ideas
1. Streaming music or movie subscription For the young person with everything, why not pay for their Netflix or Spotify subscription? It's a gift that keeps on giving.
2. Adele's 25 Since it's not available on any streaming services, give the gift of Adele's new album this Christmas. It's available electronically on iTunes, or buy a physical copy.
3. Gift cards These handy little cards give the gift of choice.
4. Donation to charity Don't be like Seinfeld's George Costanza and make up a fake charity - many offer special gift donations.
5. Sand in a bottle For a handmade gift, look no further than this suggestion from Aussie comedy duo Kath and Kim - put some sand in a bottle and tie a ribbon around it. mix nowadays.
