Manawatu spending shoots up, Broadway’s growth continues

17 May 2017

Manawatu spending shoots up, Broadway’s growth continues and spending on fuel jumps

Manawatu has had a significant quarter with spending up 27.1% to $4,155,972, when compared with the same quarter in 2016. Alongside this, there was a 4.7% increase for Feilding up to $36,871,434.

“During the quarter Feilding and Manawatu hosted NZ AgriFood Investment Week including Central Districts Field Days, NZ Grand Prix and various Rural Games events,” says CEDA

Acting Chief Executive Linda Stewart.

In the city, Broadway grew 14.1% to $9,125,167 and Terrace End increased 11.2% to $9,531,527.

Meanwhile outer Palmerston North CBD (view report for description of area) saw a 3.9% drop to $36,975,019.

“Broadway is transitioning from having a heavy retail focus to becoming a night and day hospitality precinct. If the growth continues, it may soon equal expenditure in Terrace End,” says Ms Stewart.

Overall, spending is up 3.2% when compared to the same period last year. During the quarter a total of $306,283 million was spent in 7,348,668 transactions (also up 3.2%).

The Marketview report is commissioned every quarter by the Central Economic Development Agency (CEDA). It provides an insight into retail spending in Manawatu for the three months to the end of April 2017. The data represents the total value of electronic card retail transactions. It’s based off hybrid data using BNZ cardholder data, which has a 20% share in the New Zealand market and Paymark merchant data and is New Zealand’s largest Eftpos network.

The quarterly report shows a 12% increase in spending on fuel.

“The increase is only partly due to an increase in fuel costs and population growth, indicating something else is occurring. It could be the growing logistics and distribution sector, or perhaps increased mobility in general,” says Ms Stewart.

While fuel spending increased, whiteware fell 23.7% and furniture and flooring dropped 15.9%.

There’s been a 30.4% increase in online spending locally. However, as only 6.1% of all spending locally is online, the growth is off a small base. The growth can be partly attributed to the increase in spending on fuel, as a significant amount is done by credit card which is classed as online.

Locals continue to be more loyal than the national average with $213.13 million spent with local retailers, while $93.95 million was spent with retailers out of the district – of which just under $18.6 million was spent online.

“As experienced elsewhere in the world,” says Ms Stewart, “I’m heartened by the loyalty shown to our retailers. However, this may not be enough in the long-term and local retailers will need to focus on improving customer experience and introducing or growing their own online offering if they are to win the looming digital battle for consumers.”

The Marketview report provides business owners with insights that will give them the confidence to target new consumer groups and to choose opening hours. The report highlights that most purchases occur between midday and 4 pm and that Saturdays are the busiest day of the week – in the previous quarter Fridays were the busiest day of the week. The busiest week in the quarter was the week of 23 April during which ANZAC Day commemorations were held and the Manawatu Women’s Expo.

More information about the Marketview Quarterly Update and economic development activities underway in Palmerston North and Manawatu will be shared at the upcoming Regional Economic Update: Sponsored by FMG, the event is a collaboration between CEDA, the Manawatu Chamber of Commerce, Palmerston North City and Manawatu District Councils.

Tuesday 30 May

5:15 pm for a 5:30 pm start

9th Floor, FMG Building, The Square

RSVP amanda@manawatuchamber.co.nz

Marketview report can be found here.

© Scoop Media