Electronic card spending up in September

When adjusted for seasonal effects, the value of electronic card spending in the core retail, retail, and total series all increased in September 2010, Statistics New Zealand said today. These increases were due to the value of transactions rising in all retail industries, particularly durables.

"It is very likely that at least some of the increase in the retail industries reflects spending to beat the GST rise," business statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said.

Leading the 1.4 percent increase in core retail (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) was a 4.0 percent rise in durables, the biggest rise in this industry since June 2007. The consumables industry was also up in September 2010, by 1.1 percent. The durables industry includes furniture, hardware, and appliance retailing; and the consumables industry includes food, liquor, and chemist retailing.

The value of transactions in the retail industries was up 1.5 percent, with both motor vehicle-related industries up in September. When the non-retail industries (which include services such as travel and health, and wholesaling) are included, the total value of transactions rose by 1.0 percent. The non-retail industries were down 0.4 percent in September 2010.

Trends for the value of transactions in the total and retail series have both picked up in the last few months. The core retail trend flattened after June 2009 but has been rising steadily since March 2010, up 3.3 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 43.8 percent of transactions in the year to September 2010, the lowest proportion since the series began in November 2002.

Geoff Bascand 11 October 2010

Government Statistician