Peak body Retail NZ is reporting mixed results across New Zealand retailers in Black Friday weekend spending.
It comes as Worldline NZ data shows that sales through core retail merchants - excluding hospitality and food/liquor retailers - totalled NZ$175.6 million (~A$159.2 million) over the Friday to Sunday period. This is similar to levels seen during the Black Friday period of 2023.
“Some Retail NZ members have told us that their Black Friday weekend sales were slightly better than last year, while others have said they were not as good,” Retail NZ manager of advocacy, advice and communications Ann-Marie Johnson said.
“Retailers have also told us that customers were generally spending less on each transaction.”
Worldline’s data showed that the number of transactions was up 2.8 per cent on last year but the value per transaction was down 2.8 per cent to $83.50.
“Overall, it does appear that customers were waiting for the sales to get underway, before they started their Christmas shopping,” Johnson said.
“Strong pre-Christmas sales are critical to retailers meeting their annual sales targets. A turnaround in consumer confidence can’t come soon enough so we’re hoping last week’s OCR cut will help boost New Zealanders’ willingness to support local retail businesses.”
Worldline NZ chief sales officer Bruce Proffit said the number of transactions jumped 17 per cent between the previous three-day weekend and the Black Friday weekend.
“Also, the average transaction size increased from the previous weekend ($79.80) in spite of the widespread discounting,” Proffit added. “This means people were making more purchases and spending more than usual on each purchase.
“However, the overall spend did not surpass last year and there were mixed spending patterns across the country – a reminder that budgets are still tight.”
Worldline NZ data also showed that there were big increases in some of the smaller regions across New Zealand - which were coming off low bases. This is matched with a small increase in Wellington and Waikato, and declines in the other two major regions, Auckland/Northland and in Canterbury.
“The Black Friday sales end a month that was otherwise a little soft, even after adding spending through Food and Liquor merchants into the total,” Proffit said.
Consumer spending through core retail merchants (excluding hospitality) in its payments network reached $3.20 billion in November 2024, down 0.4 per cent from November 2023.
The largest annual increases were in Whanganui (up 4.2 per cent) and Otago (up 3.1 per cent). The largest declines were in Auckland/Northland and Wellington, both down 1.5 per cent each.