Total card transactions flat in August

The seasonally adjusted value of total electronic card transactions was flat (up just 0.1 percent) in August 2010 compared with July 2010, Statistics New Zealand said today.

The value of transactions fell in most retail industry groups in August, but these falls were offset by a 2.3 percent rise in the non-retail industries (which include services such as travel and health, and wholesaling).

The value of transactions in retail and core retail (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) were also flat, both down 0.2 percent in August 2010. These decreases were led by falls in the durables (down 1.1 percent) and consumables (down 0.6 percent) industries. The durables industry includes furniture, hardware, and appliance retailing, and the consumables industry includes food, liquor, and chemist retailing.

Trends for the value of transactions in the total and retail series have both been flat since early 2010. The core retail trend flattened after June 2009 but has been rising steadily since March 2010, up 2.4 percent since then.

Annually, credit card use, as a proportion of the total transaction value, has been falling since September 2008 (with a corresponding rise in debit card use). Credit cards accounted for 43.9 percent of transactions in the year to August 2010, the lowest proportion since the series began in November 2002.