Spending surge gives retailers breathing space

By lunchtime yesterday, Paymark was recording 102 transactions a second. Photo / Dean Purcell

The mad last-minute rush for Christmas presents shows no signs of slowing down as New Zealanders continue to flock to retail stores to spend up large.

Paymark, which processes three- quarters of all electronic transactions in New Zealand, said it processed 350,000 transactions between 12 and 1pm yesterday - 10,000 more than the same period on Saturday. At one stage yesterday it recorded 108 transactions a second.

But Paymark chief executive Simon Tong is expecting even higher volumes of spending around midday tomorrow when the Christmas spending surge reaches its peak before falling away on Boxing Day.

"It's increasing every day but we are expecting that Christmas Eve will be the biggest day in terms of sheer volume - it always has been in the past."

Mr Tong said the figures were encouraging for retailers who had operated in a tough trading climate and were crossing their fingers for a strong end to the business year.

Auckland and Wellington came out of a slow winter period and experienced strong growth over the first 21 days of December, with transaction value growth of 7.5 per cent and 6.2 per cent respectively. But the strongest growth remains in the regions, with Wanganui experiencing the highest growth in terms of value (+8.3 per cent) and Gisborne in terms of transactional volume (+10.47 per cent).

Retailers Association chief executive John Albertson hoped that by the end of the week spending would remain at least at the 5 per cent mark.

"I think most retailers would be pretty happy if we got to that ... "

He said Boxing Day sales would likely be a big drawcard but advised shoppers to get in while stock was still available.

"They have become a very big day for retail but our advice has always been don't leave it until the last minute. It certainly will be interesting to see how much stock there is after Christmas."

Newmarket Business Association general manager Cameron Brewer said retailers had reported a return of consumer confidence.

"Consumers were terribly spooked by what was coming out of the United States and what was happening to the likes of finance companies and 12 months ago we were told 2009 would be worse than 1929," he said.

"But this Christmas people have realised the sky hasn't fallen in, unemployment has remained relatively low and Treasury forecasts are looking a lot better so people are a bit more willing to part with their cash."

* Hey big spenders

Paymark figures show New Zealanders spent a total of $2.8 billion in the first 21 days of December.

Christmas shoppers completed 55.7 million transactions across the company's network.

Spending was up 6.2 per cent and transaction volume up 7.5 per cent on the same period last year (December 1-21 inclusive).