KEY POINTS:
Electronic card transaction (ECT) figures for January show further evidence of a slowdown in retail spending.
Releasing the figures today, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said the seasonally adjusted value of core retail electronic card transactions, which exclude vehicle-related industries, was down 0.6 per cent in January.
The trend in the core retail series was up 5.4 per cent last month from January 2007 - the smallest annual increase since the series started in October 2002. It had eased noticeably since August 2007.
Between August 2003 and August 2007, the annual increase in the core retail ECT series trend generally ranged between 8 and 10 per cent, apart from a period from December 2005 to September 2006 when it dropped below 8 per cent.
For the total retail ECT series, which includes vehicle-related industries, the seasonally adjusted value was up by 0.3 per cent.
The motor vehicle-related industries grew strongly in each of the three months from September to November, and to a lesser extent in December. Fuel price rises were a likely contributor to the increase, SNZ said.
In January, a total of 83 million electronic card transactions were made totalling $4.6 billion.
When adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, that represents a 0.6 per cent increase in the value of total card spending compared to December.
The mean transaction value for January was $55, the same as for January 2007 when 76 million transactions worth $4.3 billion were made.
Last month's mean transaction value was lower than the $59 in December and $56 in November.
The trend in the total ECT series was 8 per cent higher last month than in January 2007, lower than the 8.5 per cent annual increase recorded in December and the 8.9 per cent in November, SNZ said.
From October 2004 to March 2007 the annual increase in the trend for the total ECT series was generally between 9 and 11 per cent, but since April it had slowed to 9 per cent or less.
The trend reflected not only changes in consumer spending and prices, but also changes in merchants' and customers' use of payment methods, SNZ said.
For the retail ECT series, the trend was 7.8 per cent higher last month than a year earlier, with the monthly change in the trend having slowed slightly since September.
The experimental ECT series measures the number and value of debit, credit and charge card transactions with New Zealand-based merchants.
- NZPA
