Retail electronic card spending up

When adjusted for seasonal effects, the value of electronic card spending in retail industries increased 1.2 percent in June 2011, Statistics New Zealand said today. This increase was due to the value of transactions rising in all retail industries apart from fuel. 

Fuel retailing was down 3.6 percent in June 2011 after falling 4.5 percent in May. These falls, coming after nine consecutive monthly rises, coincided with a decline in fuel prices in recent weeks.

Core retail (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) increased 2.1 percent in June 2011. There were large rises in all industry groupings this month, with durables (up 2.4 percent) and consumables (up 1.4 percent) showing the biggest movements. The durables industry includes furniture, hardware, and appliance retailing; and the consumables industry includes food, liquor, and chemist retailing.

When the two industries outside of retail (services, up 0.8 percent, and non-retail, down 0.9 percent) are combined with the 1.2 percent increase in retail, the total value of electronic card spending increased 0.8 percent.

Trends for the value of transactions in the total and retail series have been increasing since January 2009, and the rate of increase has been strong in recent months. The core retail trend has generally been increasing since the series began in October 2002, and the rate of increase has strengthened since December 2010.

Geoff Bascand 11 July 2011

Government Statistician