A weak increase in spending through retail merchants in Worldline NZ’s payments network in March reveals Kiwi customers are still struggling with tight budgets, despite spending more over Easter this year than last.
According to Worldline’s data, consumer spending through retailers (excluding hospitality) in its payments network totalled $3.05 billion in March, a 0.2 per cent decrease from last March.
Bruce Proffit, chief sales officer at Worldline NZ, said the decrease reflects that the majority of the trading-constrained Easter period fell in March this year.
“Spending was up 0.4 per cent on 2023 during the first three weeks of March. It is this figure that is indicative of the underlying consumer spending pattern,” said Proffit.
“This annual growth rate is low and lower than the already slow growth experienced in February, meaning times are still tough for merchants and their customers.”
Furthermore, he said spending on Easter Saturday and Monday was greater than usual for these days of the week, but the yearly growth rates were low this year, remaining steady and increasing by 0.5 per cent, respectively. Good Friday and Easter Sunday were public holidays, therefore expenditure was low, with yearly spending growth of 0.4 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively.
