Retail electronic card spending falls, trend remains flat

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the retail Electronic Card Transaction (ECT) series decreased 0.4 percent in June 2008 compared with May 2008, Statistics New Zealand said today. The trend for the retail ECT series has flattened since January 2008.

The durables and consumables industries were the main contributors to this decrease. Decreases were also recorded in June 2008 for the apparel and hospitality industries. These decreases were partially offset by an increase in the fuel retailing industry.

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the core retail ECT series (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) decreased 1.2 percent in June 2008 compared with May 2008. The trend appears to have declined in recent months, although more data points are required in order to confirm the direction. The annual increase in the trend of 1.7 percent was the smallest increase since the series began in October 2002.

The seasonally adjusted value of the total ECT series decreased 0.6 percent in June 2008 compared with May 2008. The trend has flattened since March 2008. There were 80 million electronic transactions in the total ECT series during June 2008.