Spend spree surprises busy, happy NZ retailers

The wallets are open and the tills are ringing as people spend more in the mad final rush for Christmas presents.

With six days of shopping left until Christmas Day, Paymark chief executive Simon Tong said overall transaction volume for the month of December was up 6 per cent on last year.

Paymark, which processes more than 75 per cent of all electronic transactions in New Zealand, also reported the value of transactions was up to 4.5 per cent versus growth of 0.5 per cent in October and November.

Mr Tong said the Auckland and Northland regions had recorded $800 million in transactions for December so far and by lunchtime yesterday Paymark was recording 102 transactions a second.

"We will probably get more than that today and somewhere near 140 around lunchtime on Thursday," said Mr Tong.

"But to have reached 100 transactions a second already is a pretty positive sign for retailers."

In October, Paymark reported 0.5 per cent of growth in transaction volumes and in November 1.2 per cent, which Mr Tong said was slightly inflated by an increase in fuel prices.

He said there was ongoing surprise at how spending in Decemberhad continued after a strong start.

"We don't know what's in people's psyches," he said. "Maybe it's the lower interest rates or people just hearing that we could be coming out of a recession ... whatever it is, it is good for the retailers."

New Zealand Retailers Association chief executive John Albertson was picking this weekend, Monday and Tuesday as the big shoppingdays.

"These days will be the ones which will make or break where we end up for the year I would think."

Mr Albertson also said he was expecting retail trading for the month of December to be up between 4 and 5 per cent on the same time last year.

"We have been tracking the year-on-year growth at about 2.5 per cent but our feeling is that it has been a long winter and people have put their chequebooks away a little bit but they really want to get out and enjoy themselves."

"The reality of it all will be what goes through the tills in the next seven days."

He said many retailers normally ordered their goods six to nine months in advance of Christmas.

With the recession hitting last year, many were stuck with stock they had to move leading to big post-Christmas sales.

"But I wouldn't leave it too late this year," he said, "because I think retailers are better managed and better prepared."