Last-minute shopping splurge breaks retail records
Paymark says Christmas Eve was its biggest ever
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Retailers ended the Christmas shopping season with a record breaking $404.3 million spent through the Paymark eftpos network on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.
Paymark says the Christmas Eve total of $263.5 million was an increase of 10.5% on last year.
Boxing Day provided many retailers with an additional boost as $140.8 million was spent across the country, which represents a 4.8% increase in spending through its network, equivalent to an additional $6.4 million in retailers’ pockets compared with 2013.
Paymark’s head of customer relations Mark Spicer says Christmas Eve this year was Paymark’s biggest day on record with $263.5 million processed through the network, up by an unprecedented 10.5% on 2013.
“Christmas Eve this year smashed all our records,” he says. “Not only did we see the highest ever spending value through the network, we also saw the highest number of transactions at 4.8 million.
“During our busiest hour on Christmas Eve, traditionally 12 noon to 1pm, another record was broken when the number of transactions processed per second peaked at 156. This compares with 148 transactions per second in 2013.”
Some of the South Island regions led the spending spree on Christmas Eve with Otago, Canterbury and Nelson all recording double-digit annual growth. And while Otago and Canterbury were both strong on Boxing Day, high growth was also recorded in the Bay of Plenty and Wanganui.
Christmas Eve spending up on clothing, apparel and jewellery was up 8.9% on last year. Department stores were also up by 6.3%. However some of the largest gains were seen in the hospitality sector with 26.7% growth recorded on Christmas Eve.
“Food retailers which includes cafes and restaurants, along with liquor merchants, were also strong performers on Christmas Eve”, says Spicer, with an increase of 13.5% and 11.8% respectively. “We appear to have dined well on Christmas Eve and then returned for more on Boxing Day.”
Nevil Gibson
Mon, 29 Dec 2015
Mon, 29 Dec 2015
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Last-minute shopping splurge breaks retail records
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