Card spending down in all retail industries

Card spending down in all retail industries – Media release

9 October 2013

Electronic card spending in the retail industries fell 0.8 percent in September 2013, after removing seasonal fluctuations, Statistics New Zealand said today. This followed an increase of 0.5 percent in August 2013.

"Card spending fell in all six retail industries this month, with durables having the largest fall," industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said.

"This is a turnaround from August, when spending rose for all retail industries."

Durables had the largest change of all industries, down $37 million (3.4 percent). This followed an increase of $35 million (3.3 percent) in August 2013.

Fuel was down $6 million (0.8 percent), and the remaining retail industries all had decreases of around $4 million or less.

Spending in core retail (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) was down 1.0 percent in September 2013, following an increase of 1.1 percent in August 2013.

The value of total card transactions was down 0.4 percent, following an increase of 0.4 percent in August 2013.

All of the trends for the total series have generally been increasing since October 2002. They remain positive but growth rates have eased in recent months.

In unadjusted terms, 108 million transactions were made across all industries in September, with an average value of $51. The total amount spent across all transactions was $5.5 billion.

ENDS

For more information about these statistics:
• Visit Electronic Card Transactions: September 2013
• Open the attached files
ElectronicCardTransactionsSep13.pdf
ectsep13tables.xls

© Scoop Media