Retail Spending In Canterbury Up 25 Percentage Points During The First Week Of Level 2

The latest figures from Marketview show an increase in retail spending volumes of 25.8 percentage points for the week ending 17 May 2020, compared to the previous week. This included four days at Level 2.

New Zealand moved down alert levels at 11.59pm on Wednesday 13 May.

Overall spending in Canterbury in the week ending 17 May was down 10.2 per cent compared to the same week in 2019.

Anna Elphick, ChristchurchNZ General Manager of Strategy and Insights, said these figures were a sign that “residents were spending locally, helping to support local businesses, and ultimately saving jobs”.

“The latest figures are a promising indicator that consumer spending does have the potential to soften the blow COVID-19 will have on our economy,” Elphick said.

Compared to the previous week, Elphick said spending had picked up significantly in all retail categories other than the Food, Liquor and Pharmacies category.

“The lowering of the alert level to 2 was particularly evident in the Clothing, Footwear and Dept. Stores and Home and Recreational categories, which increased by 81.4 and 54.7 percentage points respectively, compared to the previous week.”

Supermarkets continue to exhibit increased business in dollar terms (up by around 14.5 per cent compared to the same week last year).

Spending patterns over time can be seen below:

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