Covid 19 coronavirus: Online grocery and booze sales skyrocket in March

Countdown later launched New Zealand's first eStore, operating 24/7 in Auckland to deal with the rise in online customer deliveries. Photo / Supplied

Online grocery and alcohol sales skyrocketed in March as panic-buying Kiwis turned to the internet to order supermarket home deliveries amid the first wave of Covid-19 hitting local shores.

"While total online sales were only up 6 per cent on March last year, spending in the Groceries and Liquor category was up 42 per cent," BNZ's Online Retail Sales report for March found.

The focus on groceries led Kiwis to spend 24 per cent online with local retail stores, and 18 per cent less with international retailers.

New Zealand entered its hardline alert level 4 Covid-19 lockdown on March 25 at 11.59pm, bringing most of the nation's retail stores to a grinding halt.

Online deliveries of groceries and medicine were able to continue from the start of alert level 4, but most other retailers had to halt trading.

That changed later during the lockdown when some retailers were permitted to also sell other products online and deliver them, such as laptops and products deemed essential to those working from home.