Tills ringing up 9% more sales

Arapereri Beazley, Te Mihiata Beazley and Ranui Paraha are pleased to have crossed a few more items off their Christmas lists.

Northland tills are ringing, the tattoo guns are singing and spending is up almost 9 per cent on last year as shoppers splash out in the lead-up to Christmas.

Statistics released by Paymark revealed Auckland and Northland residents spent a combined $516.1 million in the second week of December - 8.7 per cent more than in 2014. The majority was spent on credit cards, $260.9 million, as opposed to debit cards, $255.2 million.

While some Northland Christmas shoppers are going for the traditional books, toys and electronics, others were going off the beaten track for present ideas.

Tattoo artist Earnest Bradley of Memory Lane Tattoo Studio said he had been working as late as 4am tattooing and designing to cope with the Christmas rush " with strong sales in gift vouchers too.

"Everyone tries to get their tatts done at this time of year."

He said while he hadn't done any Christmas-themed tattoos, people's ink was reflecting the summertime lifestyle change.

"People are getting that homely feel, so a lot of them are New Zealand-related."

Whangarei's Wards Music owner Brendon White said while he had not noticed an increased number of customers, those coming through this year were spending more and buying higher-spec instruments.

Acoustic guitars were still topping Christmas gift lists, with a purple trombone being the most unusual present he had sold.

"It was for a grown man who had never played before."

Paper Plus Whangarei manager Chris Juddery said the shop's sales were similar to last year, but he was expecting a big increase in the next few days.

"The big rush might be slightly later than last year. Well, that's the impression anyway. There's an extra Thursday before Christmas so that's an extra pay day or group of pay days for everyone." Lee Child and Kate Morton were popular authors this Christmas. Adult colouring-in books, educational toys and Star Wars products were also, Mr Juddery said.

Down at Okara shopping centre Ranui Paraha was buying presents for his three children and Christmas biscuits for dog Brian.

Nationwide, electronic spending for the second week of December was up 7 per cent year-on-year to $1.2 billion. Paymark chief executive Mark Rushworth said there was strong transaction growth at merchants with high ticket prices such as furniture stores, garden centres and hardware outlets, plus double-digit annual growth through the hospitality sector.

Paymark typically handled 50-60 transactions a second but was currently handling about 75-80 transactions a second.