Positive end to retail year

WELLINGTON: Retailers had a positive end to 2020, with payments through Paymark in December up 5% on the year before.

The growth came after a damaging few months at the time of the Level 4 lockdown, when payments were down by more than 15% .

It meant overall spending through Paymark was up by just 0.1% for the entire year. In comparison, growth over the past few years has ranged between 4% and 8% .

‘‘What we’re seeing is a remarkable story of resilience in the retail sector,’’ Paymark spokesman Paul Brislen said.

‘‘With Covid, with the lockdown, with the ongoing problems with supply chains, I think the expectation was that New Zealand, much like the rest of the world, would really come off the boil.

‘‘And while we’ve seen a drop in terms of retail spending, we’re still in positive territory.’’

But it was a mixed bag when it came to a sectorbysector breakdown.

While food and liquor stores experienced significant growth at 11.5% for the year, for the hospitality sector, transactions through Paymark were down 4.5% .

Similarly, for shops selling daytoday goods such as clothes, computers, couches and cosmetics, the year was down by 3.2% .

But both sectors had a strong end to the year and December offered light at the end of the tunnel, Brislen said.

‘‘It bodes well for the sector during the summer months.

‘‘Kiwis are going back to work, finally. ‘‘Maybe we’ll start to see a bit of a pickup in terms of a more stable sector, and I think that will be welcomed by most of the retailers.’’

All regions across New Zealand were up on 2019, except for Auckland, Southland and Otago.

Mr Brislen said what tied them was their dependence on visitors, and the cutoff from international visitors had hurt them more than others.

The accommodation sector was being damaged, and not seeing the December respite offered to other businesses.

Payments through Paymark were down 30% for the year in December.

Meanwhile, a report from Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) showed hotel occupancy was down by 30%.

On average, just half of the available rooms were booked out, according to Hotel Data New Zealand.

For the past four years, that figure has sat about 80% .

On top of that, the average price for a night’s stay has dropped by $10, affecting revenue earned per available room.

In 2019, on average, a hotel earned $152.38 per night for every available room. That has dropped by 40%, down to $91.17.

‘‘At those revenue levels, the majority of hotels which remained open in 2020 were operating at a loss,’’ TIA chief executive Chris Roberts said.

‘‘Many will be relying on at least a partial opening of the borders to be able to return to profitability.’’

A newly released report into car sales showed a drop of more than 20% in 2020 compared with 2019.

In total, just short of 120,000 vehicles were sold, the most popular being small and medium SUVs, followed by 4x4 utes and then medium cars.

The most popular model was the Ford Ranger.

Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford said the result was better than expected.

‘‘What it turned out is because people couldn’t travel overseas, what we get is a different type of spending by New Zealanders,’’ Crawford said.

‘‘So they have been using the money, doing things like, trading in a vehicle, buying bikes, boats, caravans, doing house renovations.’’

There are hopes this year will see sales back to their reliable ways.

‘‘With the rollout of the vaccine, . . . we will expect sales to still be a bit bumpy for the first half,’’ Mr Crawford said. ‘‘But we think by the end of 2021, sales should have recovered most of what we don’t have at the moment.’’ — RNZ