Retail spending using electronic cards decreased by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in January 2015, Statistics New Zealand reported. This fall follows a 0.1 percent decrease in December 2014.
"Spending on fuel fell in January for the third consecutive month, coinciding with falling fuel prices over these months," business indicators manager Neil Kelly said. "However, most other retail industries had increases with consumables and durables leading these rises."
Core retail spending (which excludes the vehicle-related industries), on the other hand, rose 0.9 percent in January 2015. The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail industries (services and other non-retail), rose 0.1 percent.
Trends for the total, retail, and core retail series have generally been rising since these series began in October 2002, although the total and retail series have eased in recent months.
In actual terms, card-holders made 125 million transactions across all industries in January, with an average value of USD50. The total amount spent across all transactions was USD6.2 billion.
(Source: Retail In Asia)