Paymark figures spark hopes of a Merry Christmas for retailers

Tuesday 7th December 2010

Spending through the Paymark network rose 5.5% in November from a year earlier, raising the prospect that retailers could have their best Christmas for three years.

Paymark, which processes 75% of electronic transactions in this country, said the rise in value to $3.78 billion and a 5.6% rise in the number of transactions during November were a good sign.

If typical spending patterns continued, Christmas may be stronger than during the past two years, the company said today.

Paymark chief executive Simon Tong said that while early indications were good, Christmas would depend on shoppers' last-minute spending push.

"It's early days yet, and spending is mixed across industries, but these are encouraging signs that the growth in spending over Christmas may finish stronger than the last couple of years," Mr Tong said.

The early season growth was across a wide section of the economy with fewer sectors reporting declining annual sales and quick growth in sectors such as automotive repairs, up 12% from a year earlier, supermarkets up 10%, and footwear up 8%.

Buying had tended to be concentrated among outlets with lower average transaction sizes.

Some of the big-ticket retailers such as appliance, electronic and recreational goods stores that typically had big jumps in sales ahead of Christmas were among those sectors still posting year-on-year declines, or only modest annual growth.

Paymark's figures also showed that while debit card use had grown, credit card spending was only slightly above year-ago levels.

NZPA

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