Cashless consumers clock up record Christmas sales

Cashless consumers clock up record Christmas sales

Savvy Kiwis traded more than $2 million in a seven hour Christmas shopping frenzy – but not a single cash dollar changed hands.

The $5,000-a-minute, no-cash spending spree may sound like an impossibility, but that was the impressive result of the annual Bartercard Trade Show in Auckland recently. www.bartercard.co.nz

More than 152 businesses and 10 food stalls traded their goods and services without exchanging one cent of hard cash. Everything was bought and sold on Bartercard.

“This year’s result was a 12% increase on last year when $1.78 million was traded at the Auckland event. The trend was echoed nationwide, with our other Bartercard trade shows boasting increases of about 11% on 2013,” says Anthony Vryenhoek, National Marketing Manager at Bartercard.

“Not only is this a good sign of a rebounding economy, it also demonstrates the growing awareness and acceptance of Bartercard as the preferred cashless option.”

The Auckland show had everything from meat and wine through to toys and spas, including a large spa worth more than $30,000 selling on the day. The variety helped to sort most people’s Christmas shopping and enabled them to save not only cash, but time as well, with everything they needed in one spot.

A little-known feature of Bartercard, the ability to buy property, also received a lot of interest. “Given the state of the Auckland property market, the interest in property purchase with Bartercard is not surprising,” says Anthony.

Properties for sale included a quarter acre section in Franklin, on the market for $250,000, of which $100,000 can be paid for with Bartercard. Ten sections at Lake Taupo were also available, with 70% of the cost able to be paid on Bartercard.

Child Cancer also benefited from the event’s success with $3,000 raised on the day. As sponsors of the Auckland Blues, Bartercard enlisted the help of the players to raise money by painting kids’ faces.

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