KEY POINTS:
New Zealanders have spent a record amount on their credit and debit cards this Christmas, with $196 million worth of electronic transactions being made on the busiest shopping day of the year.
Kiwis spent $15 million more on their cards compared with last year's most lucrative day of Christmas trade - an 8 per cent increase.
Eftpos operator Paymark's chief executive Simon Tong believes electronic spending for the Christmas period has peaked.
"Kiwis are now spending a couple of hundred million a day - how much more can they spend?" he says.
Yesterday, between 11am and 12pm, transactions reached a record 320,000 in one hour, the highest amount ever. Things hit fever pitch at 11.20am when there were 99.5 transactions per second.
But while yesterday smashed the record for the greatest number of electronic purchases made in one hour, Friday was the day that Kiwis parted with the $196 million and used their cards a record 3.2 million times.
At 4pm yesterday, it was not expected that Saturday would see payments exceed Friday's total spending record.
Today shopping madness was expected to ease.
Tong says only a quarter of the transactions have been on credit cards - most people are paying by debit.
However, he says it's hard to tell if New Zealanders are in fact spending more money or if there is just more of a shift towards electronic transactions.
"Our transactions account for 60-65 per cent of retail and 80 per cent of all transactions," he says.
"The only question is 'How are people spending money?' because these figures exclude ATM transactions, cash, cheques and hire purchase."
He adds that more New Zealanders are definitely buying online, with web transactions up 60 per cent at the beginning of the week. However, volumes still only account for about two per cent of electronic transactions, he says.
The Bay of Plenty saw the greatest increase in transactions this Christmas compared with last year, with the number up 12 per cent.
"The supermarkets and large shops like The Warehouse are doing well," Tong says.
He says there have been no hiccups with the transaction system, and despite the record levels, it is still running at only 30 per cent of its full capacity.
He says that it is not just in the last few days that New Zealanders have spent more through their credit and debit cards - spending has consistently been up about 8 per cent for the entire month.
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
