Retailers are hoping shoppers are timing their runs perfectly for a big three days of present-buying.
Paymark, which monitors three-quarters of New Zealand's electronic financial transactions, said business had been steady this week and was tracking slightly ahead of last year.
"Because of where Christmas falls this yearwe're not sure when the peak is going to be," Paymark spokeswoman Melissa Dobson said.
"It may be Saturday, which is usually a huge shopping day anyway, or it may peak on Monday."
No problems were reported with the eftpos system yesterday, and the day's transactions were expected to top three million.
Kerrie Hughes, centre manager at Westfield St Lukes, said yesterday was a busy day and business was noticeably up on earlier in the week.
"There's certainly been a lot more people in than during the last 24 to 48 hours. The place is a hive of activity," Ms Hughes said.
"The early indications are that it is building, and it looks like it will be a very solid performance, both by retailers and customers."
In Wellington, shoppers have started to move into high gear.
Maureen Pearce, assistant manager of North City Shopping Centre in Porirua, said the centre was busy until midnight on Thursday for the first time this festive season.
"It was full-on until the end of the night, and we expect that to happen again tonight."
Ms Pearce said retailers were 50:50 as to whether people had already done their shopping and were set to go on holiday, or whether they were planning a weekend spending spree.
"Business has picked up throughout this week, and we're hopeful it's going to be a busy weekend."
The last-minute rush follows news that online shopping is booming.
Internet users spent $585 million last month on goods and services.
This month there has been a 44 per cent increase in the number of people doing their shopping on the internet.
However, online shopping still comes a distant second to conventional crowds-and-queues buying.
November's $585 million internet spend-up was 32 per cent of the $1823 million spent with eftpos cards in the first two weeks of this month alone.
