NZ’s Tough Retail Environment Persists As Spending In May Barely Tops Year-ago Levels

Consumer spending figures released by Worldline today show the current tough environment for Kiwi retailers persisted in May.

Consumer spending at Core Retail merchants (excluding Hospitality) in Worldline NZ’s payments network reached $2.873B in May 2022, just 1.1% above the same month last year.

Worldline NZ’s Head of Data, George Putnam, says this annual growth rate is below the 4.0% averaged in the previous four months.

“May 2022 had one less Saturday than May 2021, so that was always going to make it tough to record a high growth rate. However, what these numbers clearly show is an overall low growth rate, with spending falling below levels seen a year ago on several days during the month,” says Putnam.

Consumer spending figures released by Worldline today show the current tough environment for Kiwi retailers persisted in May.

Consumer spending at Core Retail merchants (excluding Hospitality) in Worldline NZ’s payments network reached $2.873B in May 2022, just 1.1% above the same month last year.

Worldline NZ’s Head of Data, George Putnam, says this annual growth rate is below the 4.0% averaged in the previous four months.

“May 2022 had one less Saturday than May 2021, so that was always going to make it tough to record a high growth rate. However, what these numbers clearly show is an overall low growth rate, with spending falling below levels seen a year ago on several days during the month,” says Putnam.

Figure 2: All Cards NZ annual underlying* spending growth through Worldline May for regional core retail excluding hospitality merchants (* Underlying excludes large clients moving to or from Worldline)

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