Kiwis' $219m Black Friday spending splurge up on last year

New Zealand retailers are offering their own Black Friday discounts this weekend. Photo / File

New Zealanders spent $219 million during Black Friday, up 10.9 per cent on last year, says eftpos provider Paymark.

Excluding payments for food and hospitality, the value of transactions via the Paymark network were up 25 per cent on the same Friday last year.

Black Friday originated in the United States and is a retail extravaganza following Thanksgiving, marking the first day of the US shopping season.

The retail event is a huge deal in the US and UK, and has been picking up in popularity with retailers and consumers in New Zealand over the past few years.

The local surge in spending this year was evident across the country and enjoyed by department stores, clothing shops, hardware outlets, and appliance and jewellery retailers, Paymark said.

Marlborough, Wanganui and Bay of Plenty enjoyed the biggest increases and spending was up 27.4 per cent, 18 per cent and 17 per cent respectively versus Black Friday in 2016.

Aucklanders spent $88.6m via Paymark yesterday (up 7.5 per cent on a year ago), Wellingtonians spent $19.3m (up 10.5 per cent) while Cantabrians spent $24.4m (up 13.4 per cent).

Paymark said the increases are adjusted to exclude large clients moving to or from the Paymark network in the past year. Paymark processes more than 75 per cent of electronic transactions in New Zealand.

Cotton On, Kathmandu and Farmers are a few of the many Kiwi retailers taking advantage of Black Friday in 2017.

This year New Zealand retailers are offering discounts of between 30 and 70 per cent to mark the occasion, with consumer electronics and clothing tipped to be items with the largest savings to be had.