Retail spending down on last year before busy Christmas period

Retail spending in the lead-up to Christmas is down on last year. Photo / NZME

Retail spending before the busy Christmas period is down on last year, Worldline NZ says.

Spending in the first 14 days of December through core retail merchants in Worldline’s payments network reached $2.05 billion, down 0.3% on the same period last year.

Worldline NZ chief sales officer Bruce Proffit said the busy pre-Christmas spending season had continued to show mixed growth patterns across retail sectors and regions.

“Food and liquor stores saw more transactions and slightly higher average transaction value across almost all regions in New Zealand … this is expected to increase even further in the coming days as shoppers prepare for Christmas Day festivities.

“Hospitality sector spending was mixed meanwhile, with spending generally more positive outside the major centres in the first half of December.”

Proffit said hospitality spending was also expected to rise further this week.

Spending at retail merchants (excluding hospitality and food and liquor) totalled $549 million in the first 14 days of December, down 5.7% compared on last year.

“Notably, some merchant sectors surpassed their Black Friday weekend spending peak last Saturday, including gift stores, toy and games retailers, bookshops, marine stores, florists and jewellery stores,” Proffit said.

“However, almost all merchants within this group are anticipated to reach new highs for the year in the remaining days before Christmas.”

Spending across the 14 days in Auckland/Northland was down 0.2% ($771 million) compared with last year, while Wellington experienced the biggest drop, 4%.

Spending was highest in the West Coast (+3.9%), Whanganui (+3.3%) and Otago (+2.9%).