Retail spending during Christmas continued to decline, reflecting household struggles in the current economy.
Worldline data showed Christmas Eve had the busiest shopping hour, but transactions were the lowest in six years.
Regions such as Wairarapa and Otago saw spending growth, while Auckland and Wellington experienced declines.
Retail NZ’s chief executive is unsurprised by the continued decline in retail spending during Christmas, which she says reflects how households are struggling in the current economy.
Data released on Tuesday by payments company Worldline showed Christmas Eve was the busiest shopping day of the year for New Zealand, with 607,299 sales recorded on its network between noon and 1pm.
However, the peak number of transactions is the lowest of the past six years, and well below the record of 679,436 in 2019, pre-pandemic.
Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said the country is a long way away from the highs of 2020 and 2019.
“It did continue to show us that we’re 3% down on average, compared to last year, which was also down on the year before, and down on the year before, so, we have continued to see that slide,” she said.
“We haven’t got back up to those peaks from 2020, and it does confirm how trading has been.”
Young said people are spending more in areas such as fashion and sports equipment, but there are fewer sales for home decorations and larger home appliances.
She said Worldline spending data from the first few weeks of December showed the regions had stronger spending than cities.
She said areas such as Wairarapa, parts of South Canterbury, Otago, Whanganui, Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne showed growth of up to 5%, but Auckland and Wellington recorded declines of up to 1%.
Young said it reflects the wider economy and how households were struggling, particularly in cities such as Auckland where people were facing bigger mortgages.
Many stores launched pre-Boxing Day sales to attract customers to spend. Photo / Michael Craig
“Some of those numbers in those big centres dragged the whole sector down to that minus 3% year on year.
“We do know obviously that the cities have really struggled in terms of business closures and redundancies, people are really feeling the effects of the economy, especially in the Wellington region with the government sector and wider areas that are impacted by that.
“And Auckland hasn’t been immune from a number of restructures and redundancies as well,” she said.
Young said her expectations were “mildly tempered” for Boxing Day, as many stores had started pre-Boxing Day sales to attract customers.
She said the period between Black Friday and Boxing Day would have a flattening effect and spread out the total spend over December.
Young said it has been a tough year for retailers, and businesses have their fingers crossed New Zealand will come out of the recession early next year.
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