Electronic Card Transactions 14 October

The electronic card transactions (ECT) series cover debit, credit, and charge card transactions with New Zealand-based merchants. The series can be used to indicate changes in consumer spending and economic activity.

Key facts

All figures are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise specified.

Values are at the national level and are not adjusted for price changes.

September 2024 month

Changes in the value of electronic card transactions for the September 2024 month (compared with August 2024) were:

  • spending in the retail industries was unchanged
  • spending in the core retail industries increased 0.3 percent ($19 million).
MonthActualSeasonally adjustedTrend
Sep-21487809900051259160006308159000
Oct-21577443000056670260006297770000
Nov-21643691200061665590006290880000
Dec-21777098400062897930006288302000
Jan-22634643600063495110006289158000
Feb-22544925600059364620006292866000
Mar-22591025400058436870006298712000
Apr-22611392700062535010006311465000
May-22617150200063869240006336557000
Jun-22604284200063871580006376465000
Jul-22622100600063957570006426598000
Aug-22611698100064470720006476439000
Sep-22627088300065552540006516014000
Oct-22673427200066579880006544919000
Nov-22689534100065792870006568938000
Dec-22814627200065488550006590986000
Jan-23651583400065701740006611401000
Feb-23608512500066293300006631168000
Mar-23682442900067022590006649854000
Apr-23650238100067019440006664075000
May-23638911900065991850006667153000
Jun-23634116100066745520006660842000
Jul-23639506000066333730006649426000
Aug-23637279100066694130006639423000
Sep-23637007800066268220006633860000
Oct-23659633300065861600006630433000
Nov-23703783000066682760006625677000
Dec-23810065000065792540006617038000
Jan-24661794000066371310006601300000
Feb-24628299400065818240006572927000
Mar-24666712200065317750006532491000
Apr-24625811700065026110006484294000
May-24628615500064220370006438674000
Jun-24603303900063794120006403309000
Jul-24608471500063705860006381805000
Aug-24618796900063806070006375816000
Sep-24601646700063820360006379980000

By retail spending category, movements were:

  • hospitality, up $12 million (1.0 percent)
  • consumables, up $4.1 million (0.2 percent)
  • apparel, up $3.6 million (1.1 percent)
  • motor vehicles (excluding fuel), up $1.4 million (0.8 percent)
  • durables, down $7.8 million (0.5 percent)
  • fuel, down $16 million (3.1 percent).
Industry (ANZSIC06)Percentage change
Consumables0.2
Durables-0.5
Hospitality1
Apparel1.1
Motor vehicles excl. fuel0.8
Fuel-3.1
Non-retail excl. services1.4
Services1.3

Note, the seasonally adjusted series are adjusted independently of each other, therefore, the sum of the component categories may differ to the total.

The non-retail (excluding services) category increased by $31 million (1.4 percent) from August 2024. 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 $4.5 million (1.3 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 August 2024, up $28 million (0.3 percent).

In actual terms, cardholders made 157 million transactions across all industries in September 2024, with an average value of $55 per transaction. The total amount spent using electronic cards was $8.6 billion.

September 2024 quarter

Changes in the seasonally adjusted value of retail electronic card transactions for the September 2024 quarter (compared with the June 2024 quarter) were:

  • spending in the retail industries decreased $135 million (0.7 percent)
  • spending in the core retail industries decreased $91 million (0.5 percent).

By spending category, the movements were:

  • hospitality, down $94 million (2.5 percent)
  • fuel, down $70 million (4.4 percent)
  • durables, down $50 million (1.1 percent)
  • apparel, down $19 million (2.0 percent)
  • motor vehicles (excluding fuel), down $5.7 million (1.0 percent)
  • consumables, up $23 million (0.3 percent).

The non-retail (excluding services) category was up $185 million (2.7 percent) and the services category was up $6.2 million (0.6 percent).

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail), was $27.2 billion, down $11 million (0.0 percent) compared with the June 2024 quarter.

Data quality

Since the June 2024 month there has been a change in the industry classifications for some of the ECT data provided to Stats NZ. As more data becomes available in coming months, we will advise on how we integrate these industry classification changes into our time series. In the interim, we have imputed some data to ensure consistency of industry level time series.

More data

Use Infoshare to access the electronic card transactions time series:

Subject category: Economic indicators
Group: Electronic card transactions (ANZSIC06) – ECT

Definitions and metadata

Electronic card transactions data collection methodology – DataInfo+ gives general methodology used to produce electronic card transaction statistics.

Electronic card transactions concepts – DataInfo+ gives definitions of terms used in this release.

Technical enquiries

Yvonne Fakahau
04 931 4600
[email protected]

ISSN 1178-0258

Next release

Electronic card transactions: October 2024 will be released on 12 November 2024.

/Stats NZ Public Release. View in full here.