Media Release
27 October 2006
Kiwis Show Their Cards Over Labour Day Weekend
Increased use of EFTPOS and credit cards points to Christmas spending trend
If Labour Day weekend retail spending is anything to go by merchants can expect New Zealanders to use their plastic even
more in the lead up to Christmas, according to Paymark EFTPOS (Paymark).
New Zealanders carried out more than 7.8 million electronic transactions over the Labour Day weekend, according to
statistics from Paymark, which processes around 80% of all EFTPOS and credit card transactions in New Zealand. This is
over 500,000 transactions more than the same holiday weekend in 2005.
Key Labour Day weekend electronic transaction statistics:
2006 2005 Change
• Transactions volume 7,852,729 7,276,950 +575,779
Simon Tong, Chief Executive Officer, Paymark, says that the Labour Day weekend statistics continue to illustrate a trend
away from cash in New Zealand.
“The transaction growth of around 8% does not necessarily represent an increase in consumer spending, but rather
highlights the continued move away from cash and cheques to electronic payments. In recent months we have also seen
banks introducing low fee accounts into the market which generate even more use of cards.
“A mark of how much more reliant New Zealanders are on electronic transactions is that over the Labour Day weekend four
years ago in 2002 we processed just over four million transactions, valued at around $200 million. There has been a
trend over the years with the average value of EFTPOS transactions decreasing, as people use cards for more day-to-day
spending.
“Debit and credit cards are the dominant forms of payment in a Kiwi’s wallet, and other forms of transactions such as
online payments will continue to replace the traditional cash and cheques.”
Ends.