Figures released today by Paymark show the traditionally slow spending days in April took their toll on the annual growth rate of spending this month, with spending declining for the first time since October 2009.

Paymark, which processes about 75 per cent of all electronic transactions in New Zealand, processed nearly $3.7 billion worth of transactions during April, meaning spending dipped slightly by 0.3 per cent in comparison to April 2011.

Paymark Head of Sales and Marketing, Paul Whiston, says a major contributor to the decline in spending this month were the three national holidays, and five Sundays and Mondays in April.

“This month Kiwis have experienced a go-slow in retail spending, but it’s important to remember the one-off factors that pushed the monthly total below levels a year ago.

“April contained five Sundays and Mondays, which are the two slowest spending days during the week, as well as Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Anzac Day, which are three of the four slowest shopping days in the year – hence the fact spending slowed in April.

“Strip out these holiday effects and the underlying trend of modest spending growth does remain but that has taken second priority in April – the general picture presented by the Paymark figures is that people tended to enjoy the good weather while holidaying in the regions” says Paul Whiston.

Two sectors that did see higher spending than last year were the hardware sector up 5.1 per cent – in spite of the holiday effect – and hospitality sector up 5.8 per cent.

In terms of regions, both Palmerston North and Auckland / Northland bucked the trend and experienced annual growth rates of +4.1 per cent and +1.4 per cent respectively.

Whereas Marlborough, Wairarapa, Gisborne and West Coast were affected the most by this spending dip, reporting -4.7 per cent, -4.3 per cent, -3.4 per cent and -3.1 per cent negative growth respectively.

In a continuing trend credit card usage was up 2.6 per cent on last year, whilst debit card usage declined by 1.7 per cent. Overall the number of monthly card transactions was down 0.8 per cent.

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For more information or to arrange an interview with a Paymark spokesperson please contact Kelly Bennett –021 038 035 or Louisa Jones – 021 299 2628.

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About Paymark

In November 2009, Paymark celebrated a significant business, retail, and economic milestone with the celebration of its 20th birthday. Since its  inception in 1989 when three banks came together to form Electronic Transaction Services Limited (now known as Paymark Limited), Paymark has grown to become an integral part of New Zealand’s economic landscape with arguably the best EFTPOS system in the world.

Quick facts:

- By March 1990 volumes through the network exceeded 1 million transactions a month

- 1994 the company increased its computer processing power to accommodate volumes exceeding 10 million transactions a month

- 28 August 1996, Paymark makes history by installing an off-shore EFTPOS terminal at a general store, Scott Base, Antarctica

- In 1998 Paymark passed another milestone as the 1 billionth EFTPOS transaction was processed

- More than 74,000 merchants and 116,000 terminals are currently connected to the network that is now 3DES and EMV compliant. Today, the Paymark network processes over 75% of all electronic transactions in the New Zealand retail market on behalf of more than 50 card issuers and acquirers.