KEY POINTS:
The Christmas shopping season appears to be off to a flying start with a 12 per cent increase in retail payment transactions during the first week of December compared with the same period last year.
Data from payments company Paymark, which processes about three-quarters of retail eftpos and credit card transactions, shows there were more than 14.7 million transactions worth $810 million in the week to December 10, an increase of $95 million on a year ago.
The numbers have come just a day after official retail sales data which suggested consumer spending momentum has been gaining in recent months.
However Paymark chief executive Simon Tong cautioned against taking the increase at face value.
"It's difficult to assess what is increased consumer spending versus what is a change in spending habits, in other words, the use of eftpos cards over cash or any other type of payment."
Tong said the increasing availability and popularity of $5-a-month "all you can eat" bank accounts might encourage shoppers to use eftpos transactions rather than cash.
Similarly, Retailers Association chief executive John Albertson said the Paymark data might reflect the increased use of cards to pay power or other household utility bills.
That aside, "certainly the indication is there's some reasonable growth coming through".
"We're still predicting December to be at least 5.5 per cent up on last year and if we get a bit more than that we'll be very happy."
BNZ senior economist Craig Ebert said Paymark's data appeared to be "a pretty good measure" of retail activity.
The increase was "an awfully big number that you can't really try and explain away through spending pattern changes".
"You can understand how nervous the Reserve Bank is about what's going on out there. They think the economy is slowing down but there's so many indications telling us it's picking up."
The Paymark numbers, this week's retail sales data and yesterday's robust housing market numbers would trouble the Reserve Bank, which has given a warning that another rate rise might be needed to deal with the "surprising resilience" of household spending.
Meanwhile, the Paymark data also showed a strong increase in online transactions.
"We're seeing a real increase in merchants wanting to move to the online world and we're seeing a corresponding increase in the transaction volume," said Tong.
