New Zealand consumer confidence rose to a nine-year high with optimism about the economy in the year ahead approaching record levels.

New Zealanders spent more on their credit and debit cards in February, fuelled by spending on hospitality

Want to be dazzled by an unimaginable range of crafts? Then visit Etsy.com for a jaw-dropping experience. It has more than 25 million items for sale, writes Diana Clement.

Consumers have never had it so good, thanks to an explosion of cheap, high-quality goods now available globally at the click of a mouse. But gow are traditional stores coping?

Local retailers are being urged to grow their web platforms after strong growth in online retail spending.

Parents are losing hundreds of dollars through fraudulent websites claiming to sell popular baby products.

Customers are being tracked by bugging devices fixed to their shopping trolleys and baskets as they shop in an Auckland supermarket.

Sick of shopping? You shouldn't be. January is the time of true bargains.

Retailers are "over the moon" at record Boxing Day sales on Thursday.

Yesterday's manic Boxing Day sales were the busiest ever, according to new Paymark figures.

Nearly 40% of Kiwis believe GST should be charged on all purchases made on foreign shopping websites, a survey has shown.

A shopping trolley of 15 items was $1,500 cheaper on Boxing Day - a saving of 26 per cent on Christmas prices - according to a Herald survey of a popular mall.

A gold iPhone 5s, a $600 keyboard and an inflatable remote-controlled dolphin were some of the unwanted gifts that flooded Trade Me on Christmas Day.

Shoppers will descend on the Boxing Day sales today - but NZers have already splurged nearly $500m more than they did four years ago on Christmas shopping.

If you are going online in your search for Christmas presents, keep your wits about you.

With summer upon us, our attentions shift not only to weather forecasts, but also on how best to scorch a piece of Bambi as the BBQ season kicks into high gear.

New Zealanders have been spending up on food and liquor in the lead up to Christmas, according to Paymark, which says spending through its network during the first seven days of December was up almost nine per cent on the same week the year before.

According to Toyworld, the top 10 toys for Christmas include back-to-the-future Cabbage Patch Kids, Furby toys, LeapPad Ultras, and Robo Fish.

Dozens of online subscription businesses have popped up offering to ship boxes of different goodies within a given niche or theme.

I swear I only visited for observation's sake. Not to peruse the specials or to buy so much as a bauble, but to examine why human beings would spend America's great holiday scrounging for savings on the department store floor.

Additional Christmas outlay will leave more than half the population feeling financial stress over the holiday period, according to a MasterCard survey.

When it comes to clothes shopping, there are times to spend and times to save.

I'd never heard of BB creams until I was at the Estee Lauder counter at Smith & Caughey's Newmarket. "Everyone knows about BB creams," my daughter uttered with a touch of disgust.

You buy a new thing, lose interest in the thing, find a newer thing to buy, stick the old thing in a cupboard and repeat forever until you die. Ugh. Sound familiar?