Card Transactions Rise in Retail

Embargoed until 10:45am – 29 May 2007

Card Transactions Rise in Retail

In April 2007, seasonally adjusted electronic card transactions rose 1.0 percent in the retail industries compared with March 2007, Statistics New Zealand said today. The core retail Electronic Card Transaction series increased 1.2 percent, seasonally adjusted, over the same period.

A total of 77 million transactions took place in April 2007, with a value of $4.4 billion. This represented a seasonally adjusted increase of 0.1 percent compared with March 2007. The overall trend was 8.6 percent higher in April 2007 than in April 2006. As well as reflecting changes in consumer spending and prices, the trend also reflects changing use of payment technologies by merchants and customers.

The average number of transactions per person in New Zealand for the year ended March 2007 was 211, with an average annual value of $12,332.

The Electronic Card Transaction series measures the number and value of debit, credit and charge card transactions with New Zealand-based merchants. It is a census of all transactions processed within New Zealand. Transactions by overseas card-holders in New Zealand are included; transactions by New Zealand card-holders overseas are excluded.

The data are being released as an experimental series and Statistics NZ acknowledges the cooperation of the private sector in providing the data for publication.

Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician

ENDS

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