Online retail spending in New Zealand has seen an 11-per cent growth in February compared to the previous corresponding period.

Spending at international merchants was up 12 per cent year-on-year and spending at domestic retailers up 10 per cent.

Gary Baker, director, Institutional Research, Bank of New Zealand, said with the recent result the growth dip they saw in December is increasingly looking like nothing more than a temporary blip, possibly timing related.

According to BNZ, the annual online spending across the retail categories they cover is now estimated at $4.2 billion (excluding GST).

“This is equivalent to 7.6 per cent of total retail sales reported in Statistics NZ’s Retail Trade Series (RTS), comparing like-for-like categories,” BNZ stated.

Excluding the food and liquor sectors from both the RTS and our Index, online spending is equivalent to 10.9 per cent of retail sales.

About 44 per cent of annual online spending was at offshore sellers, which is up slightly (+0.5 per cent) compared to the prior year.

Sales of Computers and Entertainment Media goods were very strong at international sites in February. At domestic online retailers, sales of Food, Clothing and Electronic goods all showed solid year-on-year growth.