Retail card spending up

Retail card spending up

10 March 2015

Retail spending using electronic cards was up $160 million (3.8 percent) to $4.4 billion in February 2015 compared with February 2014, Statistics New Zealand said today.

In actual terms, card spending rose in all retail industries except for fuel.

When adjusted for seasonal effects, retail spending was up 1.0 percent in February 2015 compared with January 2015. This rise follows small falls in each of the previous three months.

"After removing seasonal effects, spending rose in five of the six retail industries," business indicators manager Neil Kelly said. "Hospitality and durables had the largest rises, while fuel rose for the first time in three months."

Core retail spending (which excludes the vehicle-related industries) rose 1.2 percent in February 2015, following a 1.0 percent rise in January 2015.

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail industries (services and other non-retail), rose 0.4 percent. This rise follows a 0.1 percent rise in January 2015.

Trends for the total, retail, and core retail series have generally been rising since these series began in October 2002, although the total and retail series have eased in recent months.

This data is not adjusted for price changes and is available only at the national level.

For more information about these statistics:
• Visit Electronic Card Transactions: February 2015

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