Kiwis Spending On Food But Not Big Ticket Items

 
News Release
4 March 2009

Kiwis Spending On Food But Not Big Ticket Items
 
The latest figures from Paymark show that Kiwis appear to be more content than ever to dine at home, as supermarkets retain their position at the top of the consumer spending sector for the month of February.

Food spending was up 6.9% in volume and 6.6% in value compared with the same month in 2008. Conversely spending on big ticket items such as furniture and appliances remains weak, as does spending on ‘luxury’ items including travel.

Almost $3.25 billion worth of electronic transactions was processed through Paymark’s network during February, via more than 6 million payments across the country. This was down 2.2% on value (dollars spent) and up just 1.1% on volume (number of transactions) compared to the same month last year, however as 2008 was a leap year it included an extra day of transactions.

When comparing the last 28 days of February 2008 to the full 28 days in February 2009, value was up just 1.9% across the country, a figure which is consistent with spending in the past three months.

Simon Tong, Paymark Chief Executive Officer, says; ”This suggests little change in spending trends for the month, neither better or worse than the performance we have seen in the last quarter.”

Regions where spending remained strongest were South Canterbury and Taranaki/ Taupo. Nelson, Otago and the West Coast regions represented the slowest year on year growth rate during the month.

Paymark, arguably the world’s most advanced EFTPOS network, 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

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