Shoppers across New Zealand spent more on Boxing Day in 2024 than the previous year, but spending in the days pre-Christmas in 2024 was slightly down on 2023.
This is according to new data from Worldline NZ, covering consumer spending through its payment networks across non-food core retail merchants, including fashion.
According to the data, Boxing Day 2024 sales reached NZ$67.7 million, up 13.1 per cent on the same day last year.
Worldline NZ’s chief sales officer Bruce Proffit said the significant uptick in 2024 follows a dip in 2023.
“In 2023, we noted that Boxing Day spending fell below the levels seen in 2022 – not surprising following what had been a particularly difficult year with the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle and other weather events that created a long stretch of lower spending at retailers nationwide,” Proffit said.
“However, this year spending was up across most Core Retail merchant groups.”
Annual spending growth on Boxing Day was highest in the region of Whanganui (up 33.4 per cent). This was followed by Marlborough (up 30.9 per cent) and the West Coast (up 29.4 per cent).
Auckland and Northland had modest growth of 9.4 per cent, while the lightly populated region of Wairarapa had a tiny nudge up of 0.4 per cent.
Proffit said that Core Retail spending – including food and liquor – in the few days before Christmas Day did not reach as high levels as last year, even though the number of transactions on Christmas Eve itself made it the busiest shopping day of the year.
“Spending had been up on 2023 early in the month, but was down 2 per cent in the last three days immediately before Christmas Day, although it still averaged a high $179 million per day,” he said.
Consumer spending processed through all Core Retail merchants (excluding hospitality) in Worldline NZ’s payments network during the first 24 days of December 2024 reached $3.2 billion, which is down 0.9 per cent on the first 24 days of December 2023.
Proffit says there appear to be two factors behind the pre-Christmas spending decline.
“First, the average transaction size was 1.1 per cent lower this year ($54.79), implying either more discounting and/or consumers buying fewer high-value items,” he says.
“The second factor is the generally modest increase in the volume of transactions. Both factors are consistent with continued pressure on Kiwi household budgets.”
Annual spending growth pre-Christmas was highest in West Coast (up 3.3 per cent), Wairarapa (up 2.8 per cent) and Whanganui (up 2.7 per cent). The largest declines occurred in Marlborough (down 2.6 per cent), Auckland/Northland (down 2.5 per cent) and Bay of Plenty (down 2.4 per cent).