Retail spending for the week ending January 25 was up 2.6 per cent over the same week last year, according to BNZ’s weekly MarketView report.

Electronic transaction volumes  grew 4.3 per cent. This is the strongest full week of retail in 2015 and has helped bump retail spending for the last 30 days up to 2.5 per cent above the comparative 30 day period last year.

This week it was hardware and homeware merchants led the way, with spending up 14.3 per cent. With school almost back in action, books and stationery retailers will be disappointed to see a 17.3 per cent drop in spending, following on from a 5.7 per cent fall last week.

Despite this, fuel prices continue to plummet, leading to an 11.8 per cent decrease in fuel spending year on year. When factoring in fuel, spending this week has risen 0.9 per cent.