Festive season shopping continues into first 14 days of December – Sunday boom

On the back of slow but positive spending in November, the first 14 days of December have shaped up well for retailers, with the busiest shopping day in terms of year-on-year growth increase falling on Sunday December 11.

On Sunday Kiwis pushed a total of $117.5 million through retailers’ EFTPOS machines, an increase of $6.7 million, or 6.0 per cent when compared to the same day in 2010.

The Sunday boom was felt most in Auckland/Northland (8.9 per cent), where an extra $3.9 million was spent across Paymark’s network.

Other regions to enjoy a spending injection on Sunday included Palmerston North (10.4 per cent), West Coast (9.7 per cent) and Waikato (7.6 per cent).

Across the first 14 days of shopping in December as a whole, the annual growth rate for the country sat at 4.4 per cent, slightly higher than the growth rates averaged in previous months.

And it looks like this year Kiwis may wake up to sports goods, appliances and perhaps some new beauty products under the Christmas trees with spending at sports equipment retailers, beauty/hairdressing and appliance outlets up 7.3 per cent, 4.4 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively.

We’ve also started getting ready for the traditional summer Kiwi roadtrip with sales at tyre stores up 12.4 per cent.

Paymark spokesman, Phil Deason, says that Kiwis are steadily getting their Christmas gifts and supplies sorted and that following the first 14 days of trading in December, the company is optimistic for a good finish to the year.

“At this time last year we saw that Kiwis started the first days of December with a shopping blitz, then things fizzled out a bit over the next week or so. The figures we’ve had through this morning show that things are a bit more consistent than last year.

“At the moment, strong spending in Auckland/Northland is leading the charge in terms of sheer volume, however other regions are also reporting annual growth of over five per cent. Palmerston North (9.1 per cent), South Canterbury (7.0 per cent), Otago (5.5 per cent) and Southland (6.3 per cent) have started the month strongly and this will be a welcome burst for retailers in the regions,” says Deason.

Other regions tracking positively during the first 14 days of December were Nelson, Waikato and the West Coast with year-on-year spending increases of 4.5 per cent, 4.3 per cent and 3.1 per cent growth respectively.

Regions yet to benefit noticeably from festive season spending include Wanganui (-0.4 per cent), and the Wairarapa (0.4 per cent).