New Zealand August Electronic Retail Card Spending Climbs 0.9%

(RTTNews) - The value of electronic retail card transactions jumped a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent on month in August, Statistics New Zealand said on Friday - after slipping 0.,2 percent in July.

Spending in the core retail industries, which excludes automotive spending, increased 2.1 percent on month.

By spending category, the movements were: consumables, up NZ$18 million (0.7 percent); motor vehicles (excluding fuel) remained flat (0.0 percent); apparel, down NZ$1 million (0.2 percent); durables, down NZ$9 million (0.5 percent); and fuel, down NZ$17 million (2.8 percent).

On a yearly basis, electronic card sales surged 26.9 percent after sinking 0.5 percent in the previous month.

The non-retail (excluding services) category increased by NZ$20 million (1.1 percent) from July 2022. This category includes medical and other health care, travel and tour arrangement, postal and courier delivery, and other non-retail industries.

The services category was up NZ$9 million (2.7 percent). This category includes repair and maintenance, and personal care, funeral, and other personal services.

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail), increased from July 2022, up NZ$63 million (0.7 percent).

Actual spending in the hospitality category, which was one of the hardest-hit categories during alert level 4 restrictions, increased 78.2 percent (NZ$505 million) between August 2021 and August 2022.

In actual terms, cardholders made 156 million transactions across all industries in August 2022, with an average value of NZ$55 per transaction. The total amount spent using electronic cards was NZ$8.5 billion.