Boxing Day tills were ringing - but did it beat NZ shops’ busiest day this year?

Shoppers line up at Lululemon store as they wait to get their bargains during the Boxing Day sales at Commercial Bay Shopping Centre. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Boxing Day sales were drawing crowds after a late spending surge in the leadup to Christmas.

In central Auckland, retailers were reporting a leap in business compared to last year, when the city was just past a lengthy lockdown and there were few tourists about.

‘’There’s lots of people out and there’s a good vibe,’' said Heart of the City chief eecutive Viv Beck. ‘’It makes your heart sing - it really does.”

A mid-afternoon cloudburst sent shoppers into stores, further boosting sales which Beck said had been building strongly and steadily since September.

In the central city, international tourists accounted for about 20 per cent of spending before the pandemic. But now that was sitting at around 15 per cent, she said.

One cafe, however, yesterday reported 80 per cent of its customers were tourists, helped by the near-daily arrival of cruise ships. Those frequent arrivals are expected until well into February.

Worldline figures for Boxing Day are due to be released later today.

But its transaction data shows that up until Christmas, Friday was the busiest shopping day of the year, with transactions reaching nearly 651,000 in an hour. That was between noon and 1pm on that day.

Worldline processes about 70 per cent of the country’s payment transactions at 85,000 merchants. And it said transactions reached 192 per second at its peak on 23 December.

The all-time record of 204 transactions per second was reached in 2020.

Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford said without spending data, it was hard to judge how Boxing Day performed but Kiiws facing the rising cost of living were hunting for bargains wherever possible.

With softer spending in the week leading up to Christmas, several retailers went early with sales, which could affect total Boxing Day spending.

One shopper who went to St Lukes, Auckland, soon after stores opened said the crowds yesterday were reasonably-sized but didn’t seem bigger than on a normal busy day.

Big-ticket furniture items appeared popular with shoppers trying them out.

Another shopper at Auckland’s Sylvia Park said he saw queues 50 metres long at clothing store Zara just minutes after opening.

And another bargain-hunting hopeful couldn’t find a carpark at Sylvia Park so instead headed to Pakuranga.

Traffic was reported to be heavy around other malls around the country with some shoppers at the big box stores reporting long lines at tills.

Worldline’s chief sales officer, Bruce Proffit, said while peak-hour transactions are down, the full week’s data will likely show shoppers spending more this year than ever.

In recent years, Black Friday sales in late November have challenged Boxing Day for top spot.

And while Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr is urging people to wind back spending, in the week ending December 18 Kiwis spent $881 million at shops.