Less bang for your buck
Shoppers are spending the same amount of money at the checkout as last year, but are getting less.
Consumer spending through Worldline NZ’s payments network reached $2.76 billion last month, up 1% on June last year.
The rate of spending growth was well below the latest reported annual inflation rate of 6.9%.
Worldline head of data George Putnam said it clearly pointed to the slowness of the economy.
‘‘Spending lifting only marginally above year-ago levels while inflation is running somewhat higher suggests people are having to cut back on the amount they purchase,’’ he said. ‘‘Our data suggest this is happening to a degree across all sectors, but it has been enough to push spending significantly below year-ago levels in some merchant sectors.’’
The largest annual sectoral decline in spending, in dollar terms, was seen in the large hardware and furniture category, which was down 5.5%.
However, spending among hospitality merchants reached $881 million last month, which was up 5.2% on the pre-Covid levels of June 2019, although still 3.1% below 2021 levels.
‘‘It’s encouraging to see spending within the hospitality sector continue to recover gradually, especially in surpassing pre-Covid levels in May and June,’’ Putnam said.
The first Matariki long weekend also provided a boost to regional cafes, restaurants, hotels and motels, with spending through these merchants reaching $112m – up 0.9% on the same non-holiday Friday to Sunday last year and 12.8% on the same weekend in 2019.
‘‘Mid-winter clearly did not deter New Zealanders from getting out of the cities to enjoy the first of the Matariki holiday.’’
An extra $3m found its way to regional hospitality providers over the three days of Matariki weekend, while Auckland/ Northland and Canterbury experienced lower hospitality spending over the weekend.
Wider consumer spending, excluding hospitality, showed annual growth was highest in Taranaki (4.9%) and Canterbury (4.3%). Spending was slightly down on year-ago levels in Auckland/ Northland, Wellington, Nelson and Otago.