Boxing Day shopping falls 12.4% in 2025, loses title of most popular shopping day

Boxing Day shopping fell 12.4% compared to the same day in December 2024. Photo / Michael Craig

Black Friday has surpassed Boxing Day as the most popular retail spending day for Kiwis, according to new figures.

New information released by payment network Worldline showed spending on Boxing Day across all non-food stores through their systems reached $51.2 million - down 12.4% on the same day in 2024.

Meanwhile, non-food-related spending on Black Friday, November 28, reached $55.6 million.

Worldline NZ’s Chief Sales Officer, Bruce Proffit, said Boxing Day was generally a busier day for clothing stores.

“But for most other non-food stores in our network, their busiest days were still in the two days prior to Christmas Day.”

Figures showed the largest fall in Boxing Day shopping was in the West Coast region, with a 29.4% fall compared to the same day in 2024.

Wellington saw a 28.7% fall in spending compared to 2024, while Taranaki registered a 15.1% fall in spending.

Across the top of the North Island, Northland and Auckland saw an 11.6% fall in Boxing Day spending, while Waikato registered a 13.8% fall.

Food and drink spending rose by 4.4% in December compared to the same time last year. Photo / Rawpixel, 123RF

Boxing Day retailers in the Bay of Plenty saw a 14.2% drop in spending last year compared to the year before.

The only regions to see a rise in Boxing Day spending were Gisborne, Nelson and Marlborough.

Despite overtaking Boxing Day as New Zealand’s busiest shopping day, Black Friday shopping was down compared to the same day in 2024.

Non-food goods spending on Black Friday alone was down 6.2% compared with last year, and was down 4.6% on last year over the three-day weekend.

Worldline NZ figures showed core retail spending in New Zealand during December reached $4.702 billion, down -0.2% on the same month last year.

However, food and drink spending rose 4.4% in December.

Proffit said the figures showed a tough retailing environment over the last and busy month of the year but revealed some notable shifts in shopping behaviour.

“There was more spending at food and liquor stores in Worldline’s network across December, which is consistent with generally higher food prices and people prioritising the essentials in their budgets.”

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