Total retail spend in New Zealand for the 28 days ending 28 December 2015 was $4.2 billion. This represents an increase of 6.8% compared to the same period last year, and an increase of 18.7% when compared to the previous month. Department Stores (+68.0%), Books & Stationery Stores (+54.2%) and Furniture/Appliances/Electronics (+45.8%) saw the greatest improvements since last month. Clothing & Footwear had a month on month increase of 41.6% and an increase of 5.0% compared to the same period last year, maintaining the upward trend seen in November. Liquor Stores also showed strong performance with a month on month increase of 37.1% and an increase of 11.9% compared to the same period last year. Spend on Recreation & Entertainment increased significantly month on month by 22.1% and by 3.8% when compared to the same period last year. Fuel/Service stations experienced a month on month increase of 6.1% and a small year on year decrease of 0.6%. Travel & Accommodation saw a month on month decrease of 8.7% but an increase of 9.1% when compared to the same period last year. Other categories with notable increases in year on year figures are Home & Building Supplies (+18.9%) and Café / Restaurants / Bars (+11.4%).
The total quarterly retail spend for the 91 days ending 28 December 2015 was $12.2 billion. This is an increase of 14.2% compared to the previous quarter and 4.5% when compared to the same period last year, the greatest increases seen in 2015. Department Stores led the increases with a 53.7% increase compared to the last quarter followed by Clothing & Footwear up 33.4% and Home & Building Supplies up 32.5% since the last quarter. Liquor Stores (+28.7%), Furniture/Appliances/Electronics (+25.8%) and Books & Stationery Stores (+22.5%) also experienced significant increases for the quarter.
While the Recreation & Entertainment category showed an increase of 9.1% for the quarter, year on year this category is down by 3.1% Fuel/Service Stations were another category that were up compared to the previous quarter with an increase of 2.7% but down in year on year figures decreasing -5.2%. Travel & Accommodation saw a decrease of 2.6% when compared to the previous quarter but a 9.1% increase when compared to the same period last year. This has been a strong quarter for New Zealand with spend in nearly all categories increasing significantly over the holiday period.
SELECTED REGIONS OF INTEREST
MONTHLY TRENDS - MANAWATU / WANGANUI
The Manawatu-Wanganui region was one a few regions showing month on month increases in all categories. Department Stores (+64.3%), Books & Stationery (+45.0%) and Liquor Stores (+41.0%) saw the greatest increases when compared to the previous month. Travel & Accommodation which was down when compared to the previous month in most regions was up by 2.2% in Manawatu-Wanganui. While performance in December was strong when compared to November, the Manawatu-Wanganui region has seen spend in several categories decrease when compared to the same period last year. Furniture/Appliances/Homewares (-4.2%), Fuel/Service Stations (-2.5%), Books & Stationery Stores (-1.8%) and Clothing & Footwear (-1.1%) all saw year on year decreases.
MONTHLY TRENDS - NORTHLAND
Northland saw significant increases when compared to the previous month in the Department Stores (+77.2%) and Books & Stationery Stores (+58.0%) categories. These increases were higher than national trends. Recreation & Entertainment (+33.7%), Liquor Stores (+31.8%) and Clothing & Footwear (+31.6%) categories were also up month on month and in line with national trends. Northland saw month on month decreases in the Travel & Accommodation (-15.6%) and Health Goods & Services (-8.0%) categories that were lower than national trends.
MONTHLY TRENDS - OTAGO
Otago had a strong month with significant month on month increases in spending in Books & Stationery Stores (+65.3%), Department Stores (+65.0%) and Furniture/Appliances/Homewares (+55.9%). Other notable month on month increases were in Liquor Stores (+46.7%), Clothing & Footwear (+40.7%) and Recreation & Entertainment (+20.8%). Travel & Accommodation (-1.8%) was the only category to show a decrease in spending when compared to last month. Otago also saw good performance when compared to the same period last year with Fuel/Service Stations (-3.4%) the only category showing a decrease in spend.
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