Bargains Can Still Be Spotted At A So-Cial Distance

It seems Alert Level 1 is still conducive to a spot of bargain hunting. Nationwide spending through Paymark by the Core Retail, excluding Food/liquor and Hospitality, merchants jumped 22.7% over Black Friday and the following three days on a week earlier. And spending still managed to exceed that of the same four days last year by 3.9%. The increases were across a wide section of retailers.

Likewise the within-month spending jump occurred throughout New Zealand for the Black Friday four-day weekend but not as much as last year in some regions.

Noticeably spending amongst this group of merchants was below year-ago levels in Palmerston North, Marl- borough, West Coast, South Canterbury and Otago. The annual growth rate was highest in Nelson and Wellington.

Cyber Monday rounds off four weeks of November when early Christmas shopping starts for many. Nation-wide spending amongst the above-mentioned Core Retail, excluding Food/liquor and Hospitality, merchants has risen 3.0% through Paymark. Over the same four weeks, spending has also increased 6.2% through Food/liquor merchants. However spending has declined 0.8% through Food and beverage services mer-chants, 37.2% through Accommodation merchants and 10.2% through non-retail merchants. Clearly the economy remains mixed.

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