Easter trading and good weather likely boosted March spending

Easter shoppers in Napier. Photo / File

Consumer spending last month rose by more than $10 million but how much of that increase is down to Easter Sunday shopping is open to question.

Latest figures from Paymark, which processes about 75 per cent of all electronic card transactions, revealed more than 3.3 million transactions were processed last month, marking a 5.8 per cent rise on the same time last year.

Those transactions helped boost spending by 6.8 per cent to more than $149.1m.

Although businesses in Napier, unlike Hastings and Central Hawke's Bay, can open on Easter Sunday if they wish, Napier City Centre Inc manager Zoe Barnes pointed out that not all retailers took advantage of that.

"While more retailers chose to open this Easter in comparison to 2017, it was still not the vast majority of businesses.

"Those who opened however reported a good trading day due to the amount of tourists in town due to a busy weekend of events in Hawke's Bay.

"Sundays in general are a busy day in Napier CBD given we are the only town centre open, and this Easter Sunday was no different with the early Easter break ensuring the sun was shining and the cafes and restaurants were heaving.

"While the choice to open on Easter Sunday remains with the individual retailer we look forward to hosting and entertaining the increasing amount of tourists and locals in the area over this weekend."

Hastings District Council decided in August last year not to take any further action regards implementing a possible bylaw to permit trading on Easter Sunday.

Hastings City Business Association general manager Susan McDade said while there was no clear feedback from city centre retailers about the month as a whole yet, retailers were however, "generally frustrated" with the existence of two different set of rules for Napier and Hastings.

The only councils in Hawke's Bay to allow Easter Sunday Trading are Napier and Wairoa.

A Paymark spokesman said two specific factors contributed to annual spending growth in March.

"First, there was a pick-up in spending at merchants supplying the housing sector. The annual growth rate in March of 8.3 per cent was well above the average 3.6 per cent of the previous six months."

He said that pick-up was strongest amongst hardware/building suppliers and appliance stores and within Hawke's Bay and other regions around the centre of the North Island and the top of the South Island.

The second factor was more accommodation spending, both in the early weeks of March and then also around Easter.