KEY POINTS:
Only some of the savings from lower petrol prices in December were spent elsewhere, new data from Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) suggests.
Struggling retailers had been hoping for a decent Christmas period, and the data published today shows the value of electronic card transactions (ECT) last month was the same as in December 2007.
In the latest period transactions numbers were up from December 2007 while mean values were down.
SNZ said the value of total ECTs fell a seasonally adjusted 0.7 per cent in December, compared to November.
Substantial falls in the non-retail category and in fuel retailing were the main contributors to the decline, SNZ said.
The retail ECT series was a seasonally adjusted 0.5 per cent lower, with the "substantial fall" in fuel sales partly offset by rises in all other retail industries, particularly durables.
An indication of the importance of fuel on the figures was that the core retail ECT value series, which excludes automotive fuel sales, increased 0.2 per cent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The durables industry was the main contributor to the increase, followed by rises in the apparel, hospitality and services industries, SNZ said.
The value of ECTs last month was unchanged from December 2007 at $5.6 billion, while the number of transactions rose to 99 million from 95 million a year earlier and the mean transaction value fell to $57 from $59.
- NZPA
