Queen’s Birthday retail figures

Media release

Newmarket Business Association

Monday, 15 June 2009

Surprising Queen’s Birthday retail figures point to more Kiwis staying home

Official nationwide Paymark figures released today by the Newmarket Business Association show that retail spending was notably up across New Zealand for Queen’s Birthday Weekend a fortnight ago.

“These figures point to the fact that more Kiwis are staying home this winter which is a boost for our local retailers. This is the first real empirical evidence we've had that shows more people are staying put and spending locally during the likes of long weekends,” says Cameron Brewer, head of the Newmarket Business Association.

Paymark, which accounts for 75% of all electronic transactions in New Zealand, reports that the value of retail spending was up 3.1% for Queen’s Birthday Weekend on the previous year.

The value of retail spending in the clothing and electrical store sectors was up 15.9% respectively, with the sales volumes for those two sectors up a staggering 24.6% respectively. The amount spent at pubs and restaurants was up 8.6% this Queen’s Birthday Weekend compared to last, with volume up 10.3%.

Mr Brewer says official Ministry of Tourism figures show that since the international recession gained traction around September last year, the number of New Zealand residents travelling overseas has notably fallen. What’s more inbound international tourism numbers and expenditure are well down.

Paymark’s figures for travel during Queen’s Birthday Weekend show a fall of 12.1% in value and an 8.2% fall in volume.

“We’ve seen a dramatic fall in inbound and outbound international travel, but thankfully domestic tourism is generally holding its own. This is important because expenditure from domestic tourism is actually worth more to New Zealand's economy than international tourism.

“These figures back up the anecdotal feedback we've been getting. In Auckland we’ve been seeing more people staying home this winter and not going on that overseas holiday. The benefits to local retailers of more people staying home, or travelling within New Zealand, is actually one positive in this recession,” says Mr Brewer.

Cameron Brewer says the fact that winter came earlier this year, compared to last year, would have also had an impact on the clothing and electrical store sectors.

Figures from Paymark released today:

In terms of value, $286 million was processed through Paymark's network during Queen's Birthday weekend in 2008 and $295 million in 2009 - an increase of 3.1%.

Sector-specific spending showed the following year-on-year % movements in terms of volume (number of transactions) and value ($ spent):

Accommodation: -0.1 in volume and 1.7 in value
Clothing: 24.6 in volume and 15.9 in value
Electrical stores: 24.6 in volume and 15.9 in value
Fuel & petrol: -2.3 in volume and -13.1 in value (lower petrol price impacting this drop)
Pubs & restaurants: 10.3 in volume and 8.6 in value
Travel: -8.2 in volume and -12.1 in value.

Ends

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