Eating-out spending is slowly starting to increase as the country's hospitality sector recovers from Covid-19. Photo / Alex Burton
Eating-out spending is slowly starting to increase as the country's hospitality sector recovers from Covid-19. Photo / Alex Burton
Consumer spending in pharmacies increased 45 per cent but shoe sales plummeted 30 per cent last month, according to the latest data from Worldline - formerly Paymark.
And hospitality sector spending gradually rose as border rules changed.
Data released by Worldline today showed that spending at hospitality merchants increased steadily over the final four weeks of March. However, the monthly total of nearly $700m was still down 16.3 per cent on March last year, when lockdowns were not in effect and Covid-19 case numbers were low.
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The company's head of data, George Putnam, said: "There remains evidence of tough trading conditions among the merchants that transact through Worldline in New Zealand but there are encouraging pockets of recovery, and hospitality especially is one of these."
On March 4, fully vaccinated New Zealanders and others with immigration eligibility were able to enter the country from anywhere around the world without the need to isolate. From March 19, most other travellers could enter New Zealand without the need to enter MIQ.
"As international travel rules continue to ease further in the months ahead, the yardstick will be how well businesses are doing relative to pre-Covid levels," Putnam said.
"Hospitality spending was down on pre-Covid levels by 26 per cent last month, but the gap between 2019 and 2022 narrowed significantly, with hospitality spending in the last week of the month narrowing to a 15 per cent decline. This is a promising development."
Spending in the rest of the core retail sector reached $2.9b in March, which is up 2.5 per cent on last year, and up 10 per cent on pre-Covid levels. But the patterns are markedly different for groupings of merchants.
"For example, the group of merchants selling hardware, appliances, furniture experienced 23 per cent more spending relative to March 2019," he said.
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Spending was up 45 per cent at pharmacies and recreational goods merchants by 3 per cent. But spending was below 2019 levels for booksellers, who were down by 5 per cent. Clothing dropped 20 per cent and footwear took a massive hit of 30 per cent.
Putnam said the regional pattern was also mixed.
Outside of the hospitality sector, Otago was down 1.9 per cent on recorded spending pre-Covid but Auckland/Northland, Wellington and Marlborough each had modest three-year growth. The remaining regions grew at or above the national average.
The highest three-year growth was in Taranaki, which was up by 25.4 per cent. Of particular note in March, storm-ravaged Gisborne was down 5.1 per cent on last year, but still 10.2 per cent up on March 2019, pre-Covid.
Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois said the 36 per cent of her members reported an improvement in foot traffic in their business in the past two weeks.
"Wider member feedback overall does show that March trading was improved on February. It is important to remember that businesses are still down on 2021 revenues. The accumulative effect of these spending reductions is taking their toll on our industry.
"There is still a lot of uncertainty out there but the increased spend in March is encouraging to see. We are hopeful that we are ready to move to orange soon which will help consumer confidence," she said.
