December spending stagnates in Sth Canty
South Cantabrians rung up nearly $93 million in electronic transactions during December, slightly less than in 2017, according to figures released by electronics payment company Paymark.
While December proved to be busy with 1.78 million transactions processed in the region, in dollar terms it was lower.
Year-on-year customer figures with the company show a 0.1 per cent drop in regional spending from December, 2017. Shoppers spent $92.9m during December in South Canterbury.
Darren Hopper, the company’s head of e-commerce, digital experience and marketing, says the figures show an interesting trend in the payments’ landscape.
‘‘Paymark transactions reached new highs before Christmas and over the month in general but figures also point to several pressures on merchants.’’
Hopper said widespread discounting could have contributed towards the lower average transaction value.
Timaru toy store owner Dorothy Tucker said her sales figures for December were similar to last year’s because of the slow start to the month.
Tucker attributes the consistency in sales to Timaru being a holiday destination and to the Caroline Bay Carnival.
The co-owner of Jake’s Hardware in Twizel, Jake Preston-Marshall, said December was not particularly different from previous years.
‘‘I would say sales were down by 5-7 per cent on last year but the weather may have had an effect on this figure,’’ he said.
‘‘Because we are in a tourist town good weather tends to hurt us [business]. People are outdoors having fun so they don’t come in to shop.’’