Statistics New Zealand has reported a drop in retail card spending by 2.5 percent or $166 million between November and December 2022 (when adjusted for seasonal effects).
“The fall in retail card spending is large for a December month, and this month’s drop is the first in nine months,” said Ricky Ho, Business Performance Manager.
Spending fell across five of the six retail industries, with the most significant drop in durables, specifically furniture, hardware and appliances.
Grocery and liquor was the only category was saw an increase and was up 1.5 percent or $39 million.
Retail card spending was, however, up 4.8 percent or $375 million from December 2021.
Spending across the December 2022 quarter was up 0.6 percent from the September 2022 quarter. Actual retail card spending was up nine percent from the December 2021 quarter, with hospitality seeing the most significant increase, up 37 percent ($1 billion) from the same period in 2021.
