Nelson bucks spending trend

Ahead of the biggest shopping day of the festive season, spending in December dipped across most of the country, but Nelson has bucked the trend.

Worldline, a leading payment organisation which launched Eftpos in 1989 and supported more than 80,000 merchants, said spending in the first three weeks of December totalled about $3.2 billion.

This was down by 1.3% on what Kiwi consumers had spent during the same period last year.

The hospitality sector hit a peak on December 20, but overall spending was down 3.8% on the previous year.

Proffit put this trend down to pre-Christmas parties being “more modest” this year.

Across all core retail outlets, most of the regions were down in terms of sales, when compared to data accrued from the first three weeks of December last year.

However, Nelson was one of the regions to buck the trend, with a small 0.3% boost in spending, totalling $68.8m

In Taranaki, consumers had spent $74.6 million, Palmerston North shoppers racked up $98.2m, South Canterbury’s spend totalled $51.2m, while Southland recorded $78.7m in sales.

However, spending in these regions was slightly down on 2024 figures by between 0.6% and 1.8%.

Wairarapa’s spending between December 1-21 totalled $36.1m, but was down by 2.4%, while Marlborough dipped by 3.1%, with $42.8m going through the tills.

Consumer spending analysts Market View said Black Friday sales, which began at the end of November, had kick-started the Christmas shopping season.

While Christmas Eve was traditionally the busiest time at the tills, the allure of the Boxing Day sales might be on the wane.

Market View data shows Black Friday sales were 22.6% more than what people spent post-Christmas Day.

By Warren Gamble, Nelson Mail