Christmas spending hits 178 transactions a second

Friday, 22 December 2017

Christmas spending has already broken records, according to Paymark.

Kiwis spent almost $300 million at the start of the three busiest shopping days of the year.

Last minute Christmas shopping has begun and shoppers spent $282.4 million, according to Paymark on Thursday.

There were almost 6 million transactions on Thursday, hitting nearly 600,000 between 12pm and 1pm.

The last minute Christmas shopping rush has begun in the capital.

The largest volume of transactions per second ever recorded by Paymark hit 178 per second just after midday. But Friday's spending is expected to trump this.

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It was difficult to get through the doors at Unity Books on Willis St in the capital.

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There were almost 6 million transactions on Thursday, hitting almost 600,000 between 12pm and 1pm.

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Pre-Christmas spending at appliance stores was up 33 per cent, hardware and toy stores up 14 per cent, and department stores up 3.5 per cent, compared with December 22 last year.

Spending on food at cafes and restaurants was up 8.2 per cent. But clothing store spending was down 4 per cent, and jewellery retailers down 3 per cent.

Crowds of shoppers made their way through Unity Books on Willis St in Wellington, as book stores sales rose 2 per cent.

Wellington's T2 tea store also had shoppers lining up almost out the door.

Lee-Ann, who jumped on a train to Wellington from Porirua, was doing last minute shopping in T2 for her mum.

'JB Hi-Fi was really busy, Mecca was busy, and I ordered something from Superette online so just popped in to pick it up,' she said.

'I've been shopping all day, last minute, very much last minute.'

'These are for the kids and the husband and I'm looking for something little for my mum.'

Although being close by, Lee-Ann didn't think of going to Queensgate Mall. She hadn't been there since the Kaikoura earthquake lead to the mall closing parts of the mall in November last year.

Spending in the regions beat those splashing out in the major centres.

Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury all had around 6 per cent growth, but Marlborough had the highest growth at 21 per cent, and Gisborne came in second with 15 per cent more spending than a year ago.