NZ Online Retail Sales - November 2019
HIGHLIGHTS
• The attached note
is an early release covering November online retail sales.
Figures are provisional.
• NZ’s
total online retail spending in November
was 4% higher than a year ago. Recent
months were stronger, running at 8% year-on-year
growth.
• Spending at local online
stores was up 10% on November last
year. Most categories were up locally, with Food and
Electronics very strong.
• In contrast, spending at
offshore sites was down 3%
on last November. November remains the peak month for
purchases from overseas sites, but the rise from October
wasn’t as large as we saw last year. Most categories were
down on last year’s levels for offshore spending, with
Clothing and Entertainment Media notable
exceptions.
• With GST on online
purchases from offshore sites widening from
1 December, we wondered if consumers would bring forward
some December offshore shopping into November. However, the
November spending figures did not show any obvious signs of
this.
o It’s possible any GST-driven behaviour may
have been masked by other effects, such as the weaker NZ
dollar.
o But it’s also possible that NZ consumers
missed the window for some GST savings on their Christmas
shopping. Or perhaps the discounting at domestic stores in
late November (eg Black Friday sales) was particularly
compelling.
https://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1912/NZ_Online_Retail_Sales_in_Nov_2019_20191219_FINAL.pdf
ends