New Zealanders have spent more than $2.2 billion on their Eftpos cards in the first two weeks of December, with 3.6 million transactions last Friday alone, Paymark figures show.
Paymark, which processes around three quarters of New Zealand's electronic transactions, said Friday was the busiest day of the month and the second busiest of the year.
"Past trends indicate that we can expect spending to continue this growth pattern in the next week as Kiwis count down the days to Christmas," said head of customer relations Mark Spicer.
Compared with the same period last year, above average spending growth was recorded in Palmerston North (up 9.5 per cent), Marlborough (9.5 per cent), Canterbury (8.9 per cent), Auckland/Northland (7.3 per cent), Taranaki (7.3 per cent), Otago (7.2 per cent) and Southland (7.3 per cent).
Sectors reaping the benefits of the Christmas build-up included accommodation providers (up 11.7 per cent), restaurants, bars and cafes (9.9 per cent), liquor retailers (10.6 per cent) and takeaways (10.5 per cent).
