Kiwis spent $139 million via the Paymark Eftpos network on Boxing Day - up 6.4 per cent on last year.
Paymark, which processes more than 75 per cent of the country's electronic transactions, said when the food and hospitality purchases were taken out of the equation spending was up by even more, growing 8.3 per cent on 2016.
Spending at department stores was up 67.9 per cent on last year, while purchases at appliance stores was up 52.7 per cent, and the spend at home decorating stores jumped 38.1 per cent.
It was a mixed bag for clothing shops, down 5.1 per cent in Auckland and Northland but up in Wanganui, Marlborough, Otago, Taranaki and Bay of Plenty, Paymark said.
