Online spending has eased in April with the growth rate softening for both offshore and local online purchases compared to this year’s trends so far, according to the latest BNZ and Marketview monthly report.
However Kiwi’s total online retail spending was still up nine per cent compared to the previous April.
Purchases from offshore online retailers were up 13 per cent on April last year.
Spending at local online retailers was up six per cent on April last year – the lowest annual growth rate since late 2015.
BNZ said monthly retail sales can be quite volatile’not to read too much into a single month’s figures’.
Online grocery purchases grew strongly in April, a trend also observed in Statistics NZ’s April figures for electronic transactions at grocery & liquor stores – another possible result of Easter timing/April’s weather. Online clothing purchases were up 10 per cent on last April, contrasting apparel sales at bricks and mortar stores, which were down 3.7 per cent on last April.
