Sharechat Logo

NZ retail spending rose 4.8% in March, based on Paymark figures

Monday 12th April 2010

Text too small?

New Zealanders spent more on their debit and credit cards last month, based on figures from Paymark, which may indicate a continued improvement in the retail sector.

The value of transactions across Paymark’s network rose 4.8% to $3.7 billion in March from the same month of 2009, the fastest pace since October 2008, the company said in a statement today. The volume of transactions climbed 7.1% to 74.5 million.

The Paymark figures are the first leg of a retail data trifecta this week, with Statistics New Zealand scheduled to release electronic card transactions for March tomorrow and full retail sales for February on Wednesday. Retail sales growth probably stalled in February after a 0.8% gain in January, according to a Reuters survey. Excluding autos, sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2%.

“While some New Zealand retail outlets are experiencing steady growth, others are still finding their feet,” Paymark chief executive Simon Tong said in a statement. “We’ve got a way to go before we’re back on track.”

For the second month in a row, provincial centres outperformed major cities. Gisborne recorded the biggest jump in value of transactions, at 12.1%, with South Canterbury’s sales climbing 11%, while Auckland and Northland managed 4.3% and Wellington 3.4%.

Paymark, formerly Electronic Services, processes over 75% of all electronic transactions in New Zealand on behalf of more than 50 card issuers.

The volume of sales over the four-day Easter weekend climbed 5.4% from the same month of 2009.

 

 

 

Businesswire.co.nz



  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:

GEN - Completion of Purchase of Premium Funding Business
Fletcher Building Announces Executive Appointment
WCO - Director independence determination
AIA - welcomes Ngahuia Leighton as 'Future Director'
Mercury announces Executive team changes
Fonterra launches Retail Bond Offer
October 29th Morning Report
BIF adds Zincovery to its investment portfolio
General Capital Resignation of Director
General Capital subsidiary General Finance update