Retail card spending fell $166 million (2.5 percent) in December 2022 compared with November 2022, when adjusted for seasonal effects, Stats NZ said today.
| Month | Actual | Seasonally adjusted |
| Dec-19 | 7209206000 | 5854896000 |
| Jan-20 | 5891439000 | 5852640000 |
| Feb-20 | 5691140000 | 5899764000 |
| Mar-20 | 5651491000 | 5629896000 |
| Apr-20 | 2870608000 | 2967791000 |
| May-20 | 5188203000 | 5282603000 |
| Jun-20 | 5701230000 | 6096311000 |
| Jul-20 | 5968957000 | 6180008000 |
| Aug-20 | 5438997000 | 5718671000 |
| Sep-20 | 5734401000 | 6078992000 |
| Oct-20 | 6250722000 | 6065757000 |
| Nov-20 | 6256029000 | 6035584000 |
| Dec-20 | 7459526000 | 6013538000 |
| Jan-21 | 6005676000 | 5986339000 |
| Feb-21 | 5391444000 | 5838085000 |
| Mar-21 | 5937346000 | 5885285000 |
| Apr-21 | 5989711000 | 6164057000 |
| May-21 | 6129789000 | 6281732000 |
| Jun-21 | 5930914000 | 6329086000 |
| Jul-21 | 6252189000 | 6420586000 |
| Aug-21 | 4821625000 | 5120245000 |
| Sep-21 | 4878099000 | 5130580000 |
| Oct-21 | 5774430000 | 5639009000 |
| Nov-21 | 6436912000 | 6195218000 |
| Dec-21 | 7770984000 | 6213633000 |
| Jan-22 | 6346436000 | 6378448000 |
| Feb-22 | 5449256000 | 5907872000 |
| Mar-22 | 5910254000 | 5841870000 |
| Apr-22 | 6113927000 | 6270613000 |
| May-22 | 6171502000 | 6387756000 |
| Jun-22 | 6042842000 | 6404554000 |
| Jul-22 | 6221006000 | 6432740000 |
| Aug-22 | 6116981000 | 6462068000 |
| Sep-22 | 6270883000 | 6550624000 |
| Oct-22 | 6734272000 | 6611800000 |
| Nov-22 | 6895341000 | 6634235000 |
| Dec-22 | 8146272000 | 6467974000 |
“The fall in retail card spending is large for a December month, and this month’s drop is the first in nine months,” business performance manager Ricky Ho said.
While December 2022 retail card spending rose in actual terms, the increase was smaller than those typically seen in past December months. After adjusting for normal seasonal patterns, this resulted in a decrease for the December 2022 month.
Seasonal adjustment is the process of estimating and removing seasonal effects to allow comparison of data for adjacent months. See Seasonal adjustment in Stats NZ for more details.
| Year | Actual | Seasonally adjusted |
| Dec-02 | 26 | 4.1 |
| Dec-03 | 27.2 | 3.3 |
| Dec-04 | 25.2 | -0.2 |
| Dec-05 | 24.6 | -1.3 |
| Dec-06 | 26.2 | 1.3 |
| Dec-07 | 23 | -0.1 |
| Dec-08 | 23.6 | 0.2 |
| Dec-09 | 26 | 1.2 |
| Dec-10 | 25.9 | 0.6 |
| Dec-11 | 25.6 | -0.1 |
| Dec-12 | 22.5 | 0.4 |
| Dec-13 | 20.9 | 0.8 |
| Dec-14 | 21.5 | -0.1 |
| Dec-15 | 23.7 | 1 |
| Dec-16 | 24.5 | 0.8 |
| Dec-17 | 22.2 | 0.9 |
| Dec-18 | 18.1 | -0.7 |
| Dec-19 | 16.8 | 0.1 |
| Dec-20 | 19.2 | -0.4 |
| Dec-21 | 20.7 | 0.3 |
| Dec-22 | 18.1 | -2.5 |
Spending fell across five of the six retail industries, with the largest fall being from sales of durables – down $95 million (5.7 percent). Durables includes items such as furniture, hardware, and appliances.
Spending on fuel and apparel (clothes and shoes) was down, $26 million (4.3 percent) and $17 million (4.7 percent) respectively.
The only spending category that saw an increase was groceries and liquor (consumables), up $39 million (1.5 percent).
| Industry (ANZSIC06) | % |
| Consumables | 1.5 |
| Durables | -5.7 |
| Apparel | -4.7 |
| Motor Vehicles excl. fuel | -2.9 |
| Fuel | -4.3 |
| Non-retail excl. services | -1.3 |
| Services | -2 |
The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and non-retail) fell $104 million (1.2 percent) in December 2022.
In actual terms, retail card spending was $8.1 billion, up 4.8 percent ($375 million) from December 2021.
“The largest contribution to retail card spending came from groceries and liquor which reached $3.1 billion in December 2022,” Ho said.
December quarter retail card spending increases
Seasonally adjusted retail spending increased by $110 million (0.6 percent) in the December 2022 quarter, following a 1.7 percent rise in the September 2022 quarter.
“Spending on groceries and liquor was the largest contributor to the rise in retail card spending in the December quarter,” Ho said.
Actual retail card spending was $22 billion in the December quarter, up 9.0 percent from the December 2021 quarter. Spending on hospitality had the largest increase, up $1.0 billion (37 percent) compared with the December 2021 quarter.
“As COVID restrictions eased over the last year, people were able to get out and about to cafes and bars, and to resume travelling,” Ho said.
Values are only available at the national level and are not adjusted for price changes.
Electronic card transaction data covers the use of credit or debit cards in shops or online and includes both the retail and services industries.
