Boxing Day Spending Up On Last Year, But Pre-Christmas Spending Is Slightly Down

AUCKLAND, 27 December 2024 – Kiwi shoppers spent more on Boxing Day this year than last year, but spending in the days pre-Christmas in 2024 was slightly down on 2023.

Consumer spending processed through all non-food Core Retail merchants (ie. Core Retail excluding Hospitality, Food and Liquor) in Worldline NZ’s payments network on Boxing Day reached $67.7m, which is up 13.1% on Boxing Day 2023.

Worldline NZ’s Chief Sales Officer, Bruce Proffit, says consumer spending at stores offering Boxing Day sales have proved popular again in 2024, after taking a dip in 2023.

“In 2023, we noted that Boxing Day spending fell below the levels seen in 2022 – not surprising following what had been a particularly difficult year with the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle and other weather events that created a long stretch of lower spending at retailers nationwide,” he says.

“However, this year spending was up across most Core Retail merchant groups, especially Bookshops, Clothing stores, Hardware stores and Sports Equipment shops,” he says.

Annual spending growth on Boxing Day was highest in Whanganui (+33.4%).

Figure 1: Recent All Cards NZ underlying* spending growth through Worldline for regional Core Retail excluding Hospitality and Food/Liquor merchants on Boxing Day 2024, versus Boxing Day 2023 (* Underlying excludes large clients moving to or from Worldline)

Proffit also notes that Core Retail spending – including Food & Liquor – in the few days before Christmas Day did not reach as high levels as last year, even though the number of transactions on Christmas Eve itself made it the busiest shopping day of the year.

“Spending had been up on 2023 early in the month, but was down -2.0% in the last three days immediately before Christmas Day, although it still averaged a high $179m per day.”

Consumer spending processed through all Core Retail merchants (excluding Hospitality) in Worldline NZ’s payments network during the first 24 days of December 2024 Day reached $3.2B, which is down -0.9% on the first 24 days of December 2023.

Proffit says there appear to be two factors behind the pre-Christmas spending decline.

“First, the average transaction size was 1.1% lower this year ($54.79), implying either more discounting and/or consumers buying fewer high-value items,” he says.

“The second factor is the generally modest increase in the volume of transactions. Both factors are consistent with continued pressure on Kiwi household budgets.”

Annual spending growth pre-Christmas was highest in West Coast (+3.3%), Wairarapa (+2.8%) and Whanganui (+2.7%). The largest declines occurred in Marlborough (-2.6%), Auckland/Northland (-2.5%) and Bay of Plenty (-2.4%).

Figure 3: Recent All Cards NZ underlying* spending growth through Worldline for regional Core Retail excluding Hospitality merchants, versus the same dates in the previous year (* Underlying excludes large clients moving to or from Worldline)

Note:

These figures reflect general market trends and should not be taken as a proxy for Worldline‘s market share or company earnings. The figures primarily reflect transactions undertaken within stores but also include some ecommerce transactions. The figures exclude transactions through Worldline undertaken by merchants outside the Core Retail sector (as defined by Statistics NZ).

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