Retail card spending rises in March

Retail card spending rises in March
11 April 2016

Retail spending using electronic cards was $5.0 billion in March 2016, up $287 million (6.2 percent) from March 2015, Statistics New Zealand said today.

"As was the case in February, the largest increases were from the hospitality and consumables industries," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said. "The only decrease came from the fuel industry."

When adjusted for seasonal effects, retail spending rose 0.1 percent in March 2016 compared with February 2016. This follows a 0.6 percent rise in February.

Seasonally adjusted card spending rose in four of the six retail industries. The largest movements in March 2016 were:

• apparel, down $7.0 million (2.3 percent)

• hospitality, up $3.5 million (0.4 percent)

• consumables, up $2.8 million (0.2 percent).

Core retail spending (which excludes the vehicle-related industries) rose 0.2 percent in March 2016, following a 1.2 percent rise in February 2016.

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail industries (services, and other non-retail), was up 0.4 percent in March. This follows a fall of 0.1 percent in February 2016.

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.

For more information about these statistics:

• Visit Electronic Card Transactions: March 2016

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