Sharechat Logo

Spending up slightly in December - Paymark

Monday 10th January 2011

Text too small?

Shoppers spent nearly 4% more in December than a year ago, indicating modest but improving growth in the hard-hit retail sector, according to figures from payment system operator Paymark.

The value of transactions last month was up 3.9% on a year earlier, beating the 2.8% growth averaged for the first 10 months of 2010 and matching the rate of growth for December 2009.

"While the increase in activity towards the back-end of 2010 would have been an encouraging way for retailers to end the year, the situation remains one where the near-term should be approached with caution," said Paymark head of sales and marketing Paul Whiston.

Excluding essential spending on petrol and at supermarkets, spending rose 2.7% in December, up from 0.8% growth earlier in the year.

Spending on takeaways was up significantly, by 24%, and was up 7% on dining out and on general food and alcohol, Whiston said.

Indicating continued caution about taking on debt, debit card usage was up 5.9% and credit card use was down 0.8% last month.

The number of electronic card transactions was up 4.2% for December, compared with growth of 6.5% a year earlier.

Paymark processes three quarters of the country's electronic transactions.

 

NZPA



  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

SML - Synlait Milk Limited - Trading Halt of Securities
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
CEN - Tauhara commissioning progress update
FPH initiates voluntary limited recall
March 28th Morning Report
KFL Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence in Investment Mgmt.
SVR - Savor FY24 Earnings Guidance & Change in Banking Partner
NZK - NZ King Salmon Investments Limited FY24 Results
March 27th Morning Report