Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Licence needed for work use Learn More

Video | Agriculture | Confidence | Economy | Energy | Employment | Finance | Media | Property | RBNZ | Science | SOEs | Tax | Technology | Telecoms | Tourism | Transport | Search

 

Christmas Eve Still The Busiest Day Of The Shopping Year Across NZ

Christmas Eve in 2021 held its position as the busiest shopping day of the year in New Zealand, but the number of transactions processed in the busiest hour was slightly lower than last year.

While sales figures for the full day of retailing are yet to be collated, Worldline can report the usual peak hour of spending between noon and 1.00pm reached 660,815 transactions, with the peak minute occurring at 12.13pm with 11,277 transactions, and the peak second occurring at 12.06:45pm, which hit 193 transactions in that second.

TRANSACTIONS202120202019
Peak hour

660,815

(12 – 1pm)

678,812

(12 – 1pm)

679,436 [RECORD]

(12-1pm)

Peak minute

11,277

(12.13pm)

11,791 [RECORD]

(12.09pm)

Peak second

193

(12.06:30pm)

204 [RECORD]

(12.16:45pm)

199

(12.09:00pm)

Worldline NZ’s Head of Data, George Putnam, says that while this year’s number of transactions in the traditional peak hour of Christmas Eve shopping was slightly lower than last year, overall data shows that Kiwi retail shoppers have spent more this year than ever before.

“At the beginning of this week, with five days of pre-Christmas trading left, Worldline data showed that spending levels at core retail stores were trending well above levels at the same time last year,” says Putnam.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

In 2020, a record $4.9B was spent through Worldline at the core retail stores in the six weeks before Christmas – supermarkets, department stores, appliance shops, clothing outlets, toy stores and jewellers. As of Sunday, 19 December 2021, this was already tracking at $4.3B for the same 37-day period.

“We will have a full breakdown of the numbers for the last full week of core retail selling prior to Christmas on the Monday after Boxing Day, but at this stage it looks like 2021 remains on track to see a new record spend for pre-Christmas shopping in New Zealand,” says Putnam.

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Business Headlines | Sci-Tech Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.