Boxing Day sales grow for 2024 but December spending fluctuates

Boxing Day 2024 was a successful sales day for retailers, outdoing spending in 2023. However, spending for the first 24 days of December was slightly down. Photo / Alex Burton

The retail sector would have been hoping their Christmas wish came true this year, and it looks like they may have gotten what they were after, with Boxing Day sales up compared to 2023 according to new data.

However, spending leading up to Christmas was down compared to last year, meaning retailers are not out of the woods yet.

According to payments firm Worldline NZ, consumer spending processed through all non-food Core Retail merchants (excluding hospitality) on Boxing Day reached $67.7 million, up by 13.1% on Boxing Day 2023.

Spending was the highest in bookshops, clothing stores, hardware stores and sports equipment shops.

Worldline NZ chief sales officer Bruce Proffit said sales had picked back up after a smaller 2023.

“In 2023, we noted that Boxing Day spending fell below the levels seen in 2022 – not surprising following what had been a particularly difficult year with the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle and other weather events that created a long stretch of lower spending at retailers nationwide,” Proffit said.

Across the country, Whanganui reported the highest annual spending growth on Boxing Day, up by 33.4% compared to 2023.

Marlborough and the West Coast also reported significant growth, up by 30.9% and 29.4% respectively.

As for the main centres, spending grew in Auckland by 9.5%, Wellington by 16.9% and Christchurch by 10.6%.

The average annual sales growth nationwide was up by 11.3%.

Slower December

While sales on Boxing Day were up compared to 2023, the 24 days to Christmas were slower according to Worldline.

“Spending had been up on 2023 early in the month, but was down -2.0% in the last three days immediately before Christmas Day, although it still averaged a high $179 million per day,” Proffit said.

Consumer spending processed through all Core Retail merchants (excluding hospitality) during the first 24 days of December 2024 reached $3.2 billion, down -0.9% on the first 24 days of December 2023.

Earlier in the month during the first 14 days of December, spending was up by 1.2% on the same period last year, meaning Kiwis did their spending early.

Proffit believed the decrease was down to two reasons, the average transaction size and volume.

“First, the average transaction size was 1.1% lower this year ($54.79), implying either more discounting and/or consumers buying fewer high-value items,” Proffit added.

“The second factor is the generally modest increase in the volume of transactions. Both factors are consistent with continued pressure on Kiwi household budgets.”

Annual spending growth pre-Christmas was highest on the West Coast (+3.3%), Wairarapa (+2.8%) and Whanganui (+2.7%).

The largest declines over the same period occurred in Marlborough (-2.6%), Auckland/Northland (-2.5%) and Bay of Plenty (-2.4%).

While spending over the first 24 days of December was lower than in 2023, spending was still higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

Chris Wilkinson, managing director of First Retail Group. Photo / Mark Mitchell

First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said the data shows shoppers could have waited for Boxing Day before spending.

“One of the things that I think really characterised this year was that we had a very, very strong run through the Black Friday week,” Wilkinson said.

“It started extremely strongly, and it continued, and you noticed it physically because of the number of people in the stores, the queues in stores that were never queues before.”

Wilkinson believed that December as a whole operated in “fits and starts”, which made the growth in spending for Boxing Day itself so fascinating.

He said the promotions that performed particularly well this year were those that shifted away from an everyday low-price model to those with guaranteed savings.

Wilkinson also acknowledged the stores which offered gift vouchers for reaching spending thresholds, something he thinks was a key differentiator.

The weather was also an important factor in getting people physically into stores, as seen at Mānawa Bay shopping centre, which had huge traffic queues due to the influx of people.

“We know that a lot of events leading up to Christmas have been much stronger than they’ve been before,” Wilkinson added.

“I think that comparing both ends of the spectrum, so the older generation who’ve got fewer challenges, and the younger generation who don’t have the mortgages and some of the other commitments, it’s the middle that’s been squeezed the most.”

One of the key spending areas on Boxing Day this year was in hardware stores, implying a growth in home improvement spending potentially on the horizon.

Wilkinson said there had been a large shift in the home improvement sector with the clients he works with, with a focus on improve-to-live rather than improve-to-move.

Overall, Wilkinson reiterated that while Boxing Day spending growth is great for the retail sector, one day is never enough.

“You need sustained growth, or at least consistency. Consistency is what gives you the confidence to employ staff, to reinvest, to grow, to broaden your ranges, etc.

“We’ve also got the challenges of these increased costs, which retailers across the globe are feeling at the moment, you know, the increased cost of wages and doing business and fairly static sales, if not declining sales.”

Earlier data revealed that Christmas Eve was the busiest shopping day of the year.

According to Worldline, activity peaked between midday and 1pm on Christmas Eve with 607,299 transactions for the hour.

The peak minute was 12.09pm with 10,408 transactions, and the peak second was 12.02:15pm with 179 transactions.

But this year’s peak for the hour is behind that of 2019 when there were 679,436 transactions in the same period.

The record for the peak minute was in 2020 when there were 11,791 transactions at 12.09pm and that year also had the peak second – 12.16:45pm.

According to RNZ, more than 4600 unwanted Christmas presents were listed for sale on Trade Me by mid-morning on Boxing Day, with the online trading site saying it expects that number to climb.

The sales continue a heart-warming tradition for New Zealanders to hawk off gifts that have missed the mark, with some people (33.4% according to Trade Me) intending to donate the proceeds to charity.

Trade Me spokeswoman Emma Bacon said New Zealanders had a “relaxed” approach to gift-giving, with just 3.3% of those surveyed saying they would be upset if their gift was on-sold.

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald covering small business and retail.