Retail card spending up in January

Retail card spending up in January

Retail spending using electronic cards was $4.9 billion in January 2016, up $238 million (5.2 percent) from January 2015, Statistics New Zealand said today.

When adjusted for seasonal effects, retail spending was up 0.3 percent in January 2016, following a 0.1 percent rise in December 2015.

"Spending rose in three of the six retail industries," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said. "Hospitality and durables had the largest rises, while fuel had the biggest fall."

The largest retail movements in January 2016 were:

• hospitality, up $10 million (1.2 percent)
• durables, up $10 million (0.8 percent)
• fuel, down $12 million (2.0 percent).

Core retail spending (which excludes the vehicle-related industries) rose 0.6 percent in January 2016, following no change in December 2015.

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail industries (services, and other non-retail), was up 0.6 percent in January. This follows a rise of 0.4 percent in December 2015.

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

Values are only available at the national level, and are not adjusted for price changes.

ENDS

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