New Zealand embraces Black Friday

New Zealand embraces Black Friday

Saturday 25 November, 2017

Black Friday is now part of the New Zealand shopping experience.

Spending through Paymark jumped sharply amongst retail shops on Friday 24 November, the traditional day for specials during the US Thanksgiving break. The merchants within the Core Retail sector, excluding the Food/ liquor and Hospitality merchants, reported spending on Friday through the Paymark network up 32.8% on the previous Friday and up 25.2% on the same Friday in 2016. Also an influencing factor is likely to have been the good weather.

The surge occurred across a range of merchant sectors, including Department stores, Clothing shops, Hardware outlets, Appliance stores and Jewellery retailers.

The spending surge was also evident all regions.

In total, Paymark saw $219.0 million worth of transactions on Friday, which was up 10.9% on Black Friday 2016.

The annual spending increase was highest in the Paymark defined region of Marlborough, which includes Kaikoura, now one year beyond the earthquake. The increase in Black Friday spending was less pronounced in Auckland/Northland, where a moderate Black Friday effect had been evident in previous years.

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