Total retail spending flat in March

Total retail spending flat in March

9 April 2014

Total retail spending using electronic cards was flat in March 2014, Statistics New Zealand said today.

When adjusted for seasonal effects, total retail spending was unchanged this month, following a 0.8 percent increase in February 2014.

"Spending rose in three retail industries during March and fell in three," business indicators manager Neil Kelly said. "Fuel had a large fall for the second consecutive month, while consumables had the largest increase."

The three largest retail movements in March 2014 were:
• fuel, down 1.7 percent ($13 million)
• apparel, down 2.4 percent ($7 million)
• consumables, up 0.4 percent ($6 million).
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Core retail (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) was also flat, rising 0.1 percent in March 2014.

The total value of electronic card spending fell 0.2 percent.

Trends for the value of transactions in the total, retail, and core retail series have all generally been positive since these series began in October 2002. For each series, the rate of increase has eased in recent months.

In unadjusted terms, 119 million transactions were made across all industries in March, with an average value of $52. The total amount spent across all transactions was $6.2 billion.

For more information about these statistics:

• Visit Electronic Card Transactions: March 2014
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