Damp Start To The Year For Consumer Spending

The stormy weather events that occurred across New Zealand in January led to a drop in consumer spending in several regions at those times and may have dampened spending more generally over the month – but a weakening pattern suggests wider economic factors are also at play, according to data released today by Worldline NZ.

Consumer spending data recorded in January 2023 through Core Retail merchants in Worldline NZ’s payments network (excluding Hospitality) reached $3.04B, which is down just 0.7% on January 2022 but up 15.9% on January 2019.

Worldline NZ’s Chief Sales Officer, Bruce Proffit, says consumer spending patterns were generally weak over the full month of January 2023, with annual spending growth up (+1.6%) in the first seven days and down (-0.7%) in the last seven days of the month.

“While spending was higher in the first week of January compared to the same week last year, this was not consistent across all regions – and notably, the mixed regional pattern that persisted into the last week of January showed a drop in the three largest regions,” he says.

“The stormy weather that occurred at each end of the month – cyclone Hale and then the deluges across the upper North Island and especially in Auckland – is undoubtedly one factor, but the general nature of the dampened spending also suggests a trend towards wider restraint by consumers,” says Proffit.

The monthly regional figures show annual spending declines were highest – in percentage terms – in Bay of Plenty (-4.2%), Wairarapa (-3.6%), Gisborne (-3.4%) and Wellington (-3.2%). Spending growth was highest in Otago (+8.2%), Southland (+6.9%) and West Coast (+6.7%).

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