Consumer spending on BNZ credit and debit cards was down again for the week ending November 23, continuing the lacklustre November in New Zealand retail, reported the BNZ Marketview.

Retail spending was down 1.9 per cent, compared with the same week in 2013.

The volume of transactions was also down slightly by 0.4 per cent.

Compared with the same 30 day period in 2013, spending has dropped 1.4 per cent.

Even though last year’s results were a lot stronger during the same period, spending in the retail space is still an improvement on the 2012 figures of a decrease of 1.9 per cent for the week and 1.1 per cent for the 30 day period.

The week’s spending was up two percent in department stores, but all other stores that sell typical Christmas presents had a drop in spending.

The hardware/homeware sector, which has shown strong results for the quarter with spending up 4.5 per cent, even had a drop in spending of 5.3 per cent.