New World supermarkets prepare for rush as Kiwis spend big – and last minute - for Christmas
New World supermarkets are bracing themselves for a festive rush with statisticsshowing Kiwis still
eave things to the last minute – including the all-important Christmas grocery shop.
New World stores, owned and operated under the Foodstuffs umbrella, experienced a 60 per cent increase in sales on
Christmas Eve 2012 compared to the previous day.
What’s more nearly 10,000 shoppers – or the entire population of South Wairarapa - cut it very fine, leaving their food
shop until after 9pm on Christmas Eve.
Foodstuffs worked with Loyalty New Zealand, which runs Fly Buys and other loyalty marketing services to discover kiwi
Christmas shopping behaviour and what we like to indulge in.
Loyalty New Zealand looked at New World sales on 23rd and 24th to compare them to data on the same days in December.
The results showed some interesting increases for expected and unexpected Christmas goodies.
Not unexpectedly, beer sales doubled and sparkling wine quadrupled. Shoppers also bought nearly 3,000 turkeys, an uplift
in sales of 697 per cent from the previous year. More than 20,000 Christmas cakes and puddings were bought but pavlova
sales really spiked - increasing 14-fold over the study period.
An interesting mix of items also tripled in sales on 23 and 24 December compared to the same dates in November.
Cherries, gift cards and batteries all increased three-fold demonstrating the high number of electronic toys and gadgets
kiwis receive at Christmas.
Steve Anderson, CEO Foodstuffs New Zealand says New World stores nationally have been stocking up for Christmas for
months.
“Our shelves are packed, our refrigerators full and our deli counters are flat-tack. It’s a busy time for our stores but
also our suppliers but collectively we are all prepared for what’s shaping up to be a big Christmas. We appreciate too
that Christmas can be a stressful time,” he says, “and we encourage those responsible for grocery shopping to have a
detailed shopping list and allocate sufficient shopping and parking time. It can be very frustrating to get home to find
you have forgotten the all-essential cream for the pavlova on Christmas Eve!”
ENDS