KEY POINTS:
At the risk of spoiling the surprise under the Christmas tree, official figures reveal crunch-conscious Kiwis are buying cheaper presents this year.
Frazzled shop assistants swiped as many electronic card transactions yesterday as there are adult New Zealanders - at lunch time, Kiwis were making 100 purchases a second.
Hordes of consumers hit the malls in the hope of grabbing a last-minute bargain - but "bargain" was the operative word.
While we are buying more presents than last year - 46.7 million transactions in less than three weeks this month - the economic crisis seems to have brought out our inner Scrooge.
In the lead-up to Christmas last year, the average transaction was $55.48. This year, it's $53.39. That's not all Christmas presents: it also means we're cutting costs on groceries and other purchases.
Hayley Jones, 18, was on her ninth day of wrapping gifts free for customers at Albany Park, north of Auckland.
"I have wrapped about 200 gifts so I'm in automatic mode," she said. "It is a lot quieter compared to last year - but Christmas must go on."
Paul Whiston, head of sales for Paymark, the electronic transaction processor, had observed the same slowdown: "Things aren't as good or buoyant this year.
"A very good assessment is that people aren't spending as extravagantly," he said.
"The likelihood is that consumers will again hit the shops late this year, as they did in 2003 when Christmas Day last fell on a Thursday."
If the overall spend was nothing to celebrate, retail managers were impressed by the numbers of customers flocking through the doors this weekend.
Johnathan Douglas, centre manager of Sylvia Park, said: "We were open until midnight on Thursday and we were amazed as it was busier than a Saturday. We have 4000 car park spaces and it was almost full at 9.30pm."
The mall, New Zealand's biggest, takes on average a million dollars a day in sales.
Douglas added: "We have all been lulled into thinking that people haven't got any money but we don't see it. Shoppers are looking for bargains but they are still going shopping."
Chad Hooker, the centre manager of Westfield in Hamilton, said the mall had been busy yesterday, but he wouldn't know sales figures until next month. "Our car parks are busy and we've had to ask the employees to park off-site," he noted.
But Andrew Wadsworth of Bayfair Shopping centre, in the Bay of Plenty, was banking on the Boxing Day sales.
"We had 25,000 to 28,000 through the door on Saturday. We expect 30,000 on Boxing Day. There hasn't been a slump but there hasn't been the 2-3 per cent growth we see year on year."
The top presents that New Zealanders are chasing on Trade Me are puppies, iPods and iPhones.
But Lee Burridge, of South Auckland, preferred to be able to see the gifts he was buying.
He said: "It's nice to have a look what is on the shelves.
"I don't think it is as busy as last Christmas but the car parks are full.
"I haven't spent as much as I normally would. I've been buying smaller gifts."
Volunteers wrapping presents at Sylvia Park said they were kept busy throughout the festive period.
Regional volunteer manager Cheryll Martin said donations have increased: "It has been extremely frantic. People are feeling charitable at least. People still want to give gifts."
That, at least, shows the spirit of Christmas is alive and well.
