Spending on the Up with Three Days to go
With three shopping days left until Christmas, Paymark figures show that retailers around the country have indeed been
busy, with spending up 6.2 percent and transaction volume up 7.5 percent on the same period last year (December 1 – 21
inclusive).
Paymark CEO Simon Tong says that these figures are encouraging for retailers who have been operating in a fairly tough
trading climate, and crossing fingers for a strong end to the business year.
“Our latest figures indicate, that as we had hoped, the pick up in Christmas spend has taken place. We are in for a busy
last three days and a bumper boxing day if this pattern continues,” says Tong.
Of particular note are Wellington and Auckland which have both experienced strong growth over the first 21 days of
December, coming out of a slow winter period with transaction value growth of 6.2 percent and 7.5 percent respectively.
“The growth in Auckland, Waikato, Wellington and Canterbury is especially important given their size and impact on the
wider economy.” he adds
The strongest growth still remains in the regions, with Wanganui experiencing the highest growth in terms of value (+8.3
percent) and Gisborne in terms of transactional volume (+ 10.47 percent).
Paymark figures show that New Zealanders have spent a total of $2.8 billion and completed 55.7 million transactions
across the company’s network in the first 21 days of December.
Today, Paymark processes over 75% of all electronic transactions in New Zealand on behalf of more than 50 card issuers
and acquirers. More than 73,000 merchants and 100,000 terminals are currently connected to the network.
ENDS