Online retail sales in New Zealand rose by a better-than-expected 14 per cent in April compared to the previous corresponding period.

Gary Baker, director, Institutional Research, Bank of New Zealand, said it is difficult to be definitive on the reason for the slower-than-usual growth seen in March, but likely culprits include timing and “profiling” effects – that is, spending at international sites in March was compared with exceptionally strong spending in March 2017.

For the month of April, spending at domestic sites was up 16 per cent compared to the prior year, well ahead of the growth in spending at local bricks-and-mortar stores, which were only up 0.4 per cent on last April. The food, clothing and electrical categories experienced particularly strong results.

Online spending at international merchants was up 12 per cent compared to April last year. Computer, clothing and entertainment media categories contributed to over 60 per cent of growth in spending at international online retailers.

Baker stated annual online spending across the retail categories they cover is now approximately $4.3 billion (excl GST).

This is equivalent to 7.7 per cent of total retail sales reported in Statistics NZ’s Retail Trade Series (RTS), comparing like-for-like categories. Excluding the food and liquor sectors from both the RTS and our Index, online spending is equivalent to 11.1 per cent of retail sales.