Jewellery and Books for Mum this Mother's Day

Media Release
Monday, 11 May 2009

Jewellery and Books for Mum this Mother's Day

Data from Paymark suggests we chose longer lasting gifts such as jewellery and books or cards this Mother's Day instead of flowers as the ultimate gifts for Mum.

Watch and jewellery retailers across the country benefitted to the tune of $5.5 million, from the Sunday 3rd to Sunday 10th May, up 20.1 percent in value on the same week last year. A card, a book and lunch for Mum were also popular, with card sales accounting for a proportion of the 10.4 percent increase in spending at bookshops while spending at restaurants/ café was up 8.8 percent across the same dates. Gift store sales were also up 10.4 percent across the week.

Conversely, florists saw a 6 percent drop in the value of transactions processed across the Paymark network during the same week. This is a similar trend to what was experienced in the lead up to Valentine's Day earlier in the year.

In terms of regional variations, Paymark figures would suggest it was the southern Mums who were the most spoiled. Spending was up 4.5 percent in Marlborough, 4.0 percent in Southland, and 3.4 percent in Nelson from Sunday 3 - Sunday 10 May inclusive, against a national increase of just 0.6 percent.

Paymark processes more than three quarters of all in store electronic transactions in New Zealand. That puts New Zealand ahead of any other country in the world in terms of EFTPOS use.

ENDS

© Scoop Media