Xmas: More New Zealanders Are Shopping Online

More New Zealanders Are Shopping Online This Christmas

Figures released by Paymark today show that growth in spending across New Zealand for the second week in December remains healthy, however has slowed when compared to the average increase throughout 2007. Internet spending on the other hand has increased markedly.

Last week Kiwis conducted almost 17 million electronic transactions in stores, worth around $950 million, according to data from electronic systems provider Paymark. New Zealanders made 1 million more transactions and spent nearly $48 million more this year than the same week in December 2006.

The regions of Nelson, Wanganui and Southland, saw the biggest increase in transaction volume, while the Bay of Plenty, Taranaki & Taupo, West Coast, and Gisborne regions experienced the smallest.

The number of transactions processed through Paymark’s system was up an average of 6.9 percent across the country compared with the same period in 2006.

Internet shopping, however is up almost 44 percent year-on-year for the first two weeks in December. In the month of November there was a more than 50 percent increase in the number of internet purchases by comparison to November 2006.

Simon Tong, Chief Executive Officer, Paymark, says; “Transaction volumes have slowed on what we would expect for this time of year and this could suggest some New Zealanders are saving their shopping until the last minute rush or choosing to buy online.”

“Kiwis seem to be falling into one of two camps: the early-birds who did their Christmas shopping at the beginning of the month, and those who leave present buying until the final minutes and are banking on the fact there is still one weekend left to Christmas. In the upcoming weekend, our system will be processing in excess of100 transactions a second – most definitely the busiest time of the year for retailers.”

The Paymark system processes three quarters of all electronic transactions and will be tracking spending throughout December and into the New Year. Nearly 90% of Kiwis have a debit card and that puts us ahead of any other country in the world in terms of EFTPOS use.

ENDS

About Paymark:

In 1989 three banks came together to form Electronic Transaction Services Limited. They had the vision of a national real time payment system. Through their commitment to the retail payments industry the company has developed what has arguably become the best EFTPOS system in the world.
EFTPOS appeared on the New Zealand retail scene in 1984, only five years after the country’s first Bank ATM (cash dispenser) was installed. New Zealand’s first EFTPOS system operated from a service station and a supermarket attached to a bank computer.

In March 1990 volumes through the network exceeded 1 Million transactions a month.

In 1994 the company increased its computer processing power to accommodate volumes exceeding 10 Million transactions a month. In 1996 Bank of New Zealand joined the network and EFTPOS as a payment mechanism entered a tremendous growth phase.

In 1998 ETSL passed another milestone - as the 1 Billionth EFTPOS transaction was processed. By the year 2000 EFTPOS was well and truly identified as a public utility. ETSL saw its 2 Billionth transaction pass through the system in November 2000 and 6 Billionth transaction mid way through 2007. The system, rebranded as the Paymark EFTPOS network, processes nearly 75% of all electronic transactions in the New Zealand retail market on behalf of more than 50 card issuers and acquirers. More than 65,000 merchants and 80,000 terminals are currently connected to the network that is now 3DES and EMV compliant.

The company offers services to merchants, card issuers and acquirers for eftpos, eCommerce, mCommerce and ATM payment and related transaction processing.

Regional Electronic Transactions December 10th to 16th 2007

Transaction
Region Volume Value Vol Inc/Nov on previous year

Auckland/Northland 6,489,751 $379,929,186 7.2%
Waikato 1,236,887 $65,803,529 7.9%
Bay of Plenty 1,086,190 $59,940,306 5%
Gisborne 155,697 $7,716,231 4.2%
Taranaki & Taupo 435,891 $21,423,065 4%
Hawkes Bay 514,174 $27,472,006 6.7%
Wanganui 200,618 $9,724,346 8.5%
Palmerston North 571,344 $30,207,421 5.1%
Wairarapa 165,199 $8,847,442 6.1%
Wellington 1,950,436 $102,128,052 6.6%
Nelson 348,565 $19,422,330 9%
Marlborough 206,456 $12,104,240 5.6%
West Coast 115,620 $7,253,074 4.2%
Canterbury 1,995,168 $113,518,162 7.7%
South Canterbury 257,884 $14,419,771 5.9%
Otago 821,854 $47,346,296 6.4%
Southland 393,365 $23,012,607 7.8%
Total 16,945,099 $950,268,062 6.9%

ENDS

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