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Friday 2 June, 2017

Spending through the Paymark network accounts for transactions through more than 75% of the country’s EFTPOS terminals so it is possible to look in some detail at patterns throughout the day.

Payments through the Paymark network totalled $1.1 billion in the second week of May (Monday 8th to Sunday 14th). The busiest hour was Saturday 12-1pm, as measured in dollars of payments using cards in this hour. Note some payments will pertain to goods and services supplied either before or after this hour. The quietest payment hour was Monday 3-4am.

Figure 1: Percent of weekly spending by day and hour, for Paymark data 8-14th May

The pattern of spending, not surprisingly, varies depending on the sector of the merchant. In total, 10am to 5pm Saturday is a busy period, with 11.5% of weekly spending. This is especially for “retail” merchants such as Clothing, Book, Appliance and Sports stores where the weekly share averages 18%, rising to over 22% amongst Footwear merchants and even higher for some individual merchants.

Figure 2: Percent of weekly spending by day and hour amongst selected retail merchants, for Paymark data 8-14th May

For merchants in the non-retail sector providing trade services – e.g. Automotive repairs and Plumbers –

the busy payment periods are approaching 5pm each week day, peaking on Friday.

Figure 3: Percent of weekly spending by day and hour amongst selected trade service merchants, for Paymark data 8-14th May

Amongst Health services – e.g. Doctors, Optometrists – there is a morning and afternoon peak each day, although payments do fall away quickly on Friday afternoons at Dentists (possibly as a result of dentists leaving early for the weekend perhaps) and Gyms.

Figure 4: Percent of weekly spending by day and hour amongst selected health service merchants, for Paymark data 8-14th May

Another way to show the significance of sectors at different times of day is to show the sector share of spending in each hour, averaged across the seven days. For example, an average 30% of spending in the middle of the day was through retailers such as Clothing, Hardware and Department stores, 35% was through Supermarkets around 5pm, the Hospitality share (e.g. cafes, bars, takeaways) rose to over 45% overnight while Fuel merchants peaked at over 40% of spending around 6am.

Figure 5: Percent of average hourly spending amongst groupings of selected merchants, for Paymark data 8-14th May

Generally the spending pattern was similar during the week within each region, although some differences did occur. For example, spending at the bars and clubs on Saturday 13th tended towards early morning and late night in Wellington and Otago, relative to Auckland/Northland and Canterbury.

Figure 6: Percent of daily bar and club merchant spending by hour for selected regions, for Paymark data Sat 13th May

Monthly Data

Underlying spending through Paymark increased 1.3% in seasonally adjusted terms during May. On an annual basis, underlying spending was up 7.5%. Both figures point to a continued spending momentum, albeit both are slightly inflated due to Easter/school holidays in April 2017 and one less Sunday in May 2017.

PAYMARK All Cards Data (May 2017 versus same month 2016)
Volume	Underlying*	Value	Underlying*
Region	transactions millions	Annual % change	transactions $millions	Annual % change
Auckland/Northland	42.64	6.6%	$2,096.9	7.3%
Waikato	7.70	9.0%	$346.0	7.9%
BOP	6.70	10.4%	$315.9	11.5%
Gisborne	0.95	7.1%	$40.2	8.0%
Taranaki	2.23	8.1%	$97.4	7.7%
Hawke's Bay	3.08	9.4%	$138.3	9.6%
Wanganui	1.11	10.6%	$45.3	9.7%
Palmerston North	3.31	9.6%	$158.4	9.4%
Wairarapa	0.96	9.3%	$42.6	9.4%
Wellington	11.35	10.2%	$481.0	9.0%
Nelson	1.89	7.3%	$90.6	7.4%
Marlborough	1.05	7.3%	$52.2	7.4%
West Coast	0.58	13.8%	$29.4	15.0%
Canterbury	11.51	4.6%	$539.6	3.2%
South Canterbury	1.52	9.8%	$75.7	9.2%
Otago	5.58	9.4%	$257.8	8.2%
Southland	2.11	7.9%	$104.9	6.5%
New Zealand	105.09	7.7%	$4,963.2	7.5%
* Underlying spending excludes large clients moving to or from Paymark within last 12 months

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