16.12.200801:15:00UTC+00Slow Start To Christmas Spending In New Zealand

Tuesday, a report from the electronic transaction company Paymark showed that Christmas spending in New Zealand showed a slow start in the first two weeks of December, compared to the previous year.

The report showed that Kiwis spent a total of $1.76 billion across the Paymark network in the first two weeks of December. This is up just 1.7% compared to the same fortnight in 2007.

Paymark has processed more than 33 million transactions during the month to date, which is up 6.7% on last year.

Paymark spokesperson Paul Whiston said, " We know some of this low spending growth is the result of lower petrol prices reducing spending in service stations but the total volume growth rate remains similar to earlier in the year when retailers generally reported weak demand, and also remains below the growth rate reported this time last year."

The current economic climate will be impacting, but there remains the likelihood that consumers will again hit the shops late this year, as they did in 2003 when Christmas Day last fell on a Thursday," Whiston added.

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