Retail spending for the week ending April 19 saw a huge spike year on year, up by 10.06 per cent, according to BNZ’s weekly MarketView report.
The MarketView report tracks electronic spending through BNZ’s network.Huge spending spikes year on year, however, is misleading.
BNZ’s Michael Stechman said that while it is encouraging to see the impressive figures, expectations should be tempered as the comparative week in 2014 featured Good Friday.
On the back of an extra day of retail, all storetypes experienced a rise in spending. The non-food consumables category experienced a 22.9 per cent rise in spending.
Despite having an extra day of retail, it was a lacklustre week for supermarkets and dairies, up just 1.6 per cent. This highlights that in weeks where consumers know the shops will be shut, they make up for it over the surrounding days.
Prices in general aren’t going up much. Statistics New Zealand’s Consumer Price Index for the March Quarter measured a 0.1 per cent increase in the cost of goods, when compared to the same period last year. With a couple of notable exceptions of fruit, vegetables, and tobacco, the largest rise amongst retail products was a 2.5 per cent increase for newspapers, books, and stationery.
Storetypes with the largest rises in spending were footwear, up 64.1 per cent; clothing, up 45.7 per cent; sports and camping equipment, up 21 per cent.
