this is not a blog post

David Cohen



Economic confusion at the NZ Herald

David Cohen | Monday December 21, 2009 - 12:44pm

Fantastic news. The country’s retail sector is motoring along at the impressive nationwide rate of 340,000 purchases an hour, the New Zealand Herald reports:

This screeching rate of Eftpos purchases - up 5 per cent on spending patterns last year - appeared to match the frantic and sometimes testy nature of our packed shopping malls yesterday.
 
Paymark electronic transactions company boss Simon Tong said there were more than a million purchases yesterday - a lift for retailers on the recession-hit 2008 Christmas.
 
Good news indeed, and presumably no one is happier to be experiencing it firsthand than the management at St Lukes, one of Auckland’s major retail megacomplexes, whose assistant manager Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana, is quoted in the same report as saying the centre has been "ridiculously busy" for the past two weeks, with “more people … spending more money this year.”
 
But wait. With only four days to go until Christmas, this morning’s edition of the same paper also reports that the same retail sector is in fact in the doldrums, with “parking spaces still available at the malls” and depressed retailers reporting “quieter-than-usual stores.”
 
Herald reporter Debrin Foxcroft even discovers that this year’s downturn has been most keenly felt at shopping centres such as Auckland’s own St Lukes, where, she reveals, the lack of shoppers “was bordering on the ridiculous” and those who did turn up were largely in the market for smaller-ticket items.
 
Obviously, we live in confusing economic times. Which may possibly explain why the country’s major daily newspaper feels it needs to offer its own consumers two rather different economic narratives for the price of one.

 

Follow NBR on Twitter

Comments

Christmas shopping.

Enjoy your Christmas shopping this year because it will be the last good one for a few years. The next phase in the global melt down starts next year. First sell all shares, pay off mortgage and invest in Government bonds. Then watch the NZ dollar go into cardiac arrest and hit 45 cents US, sometime in the next 18 months. With the extreme credit conditions arriving, the public's admiration for global warming will also disappear and any body still believing in the religion will be thought of as moronic green nutters. Merry Christmas to you all.

Posted by Jimbob at 02:33 pm on December 21, 2009

I believe it is called marketing spin

Asking the assistant manager at St Lukes how things are going is hardly going to give you a balanced report. She was hardly going to say 'its dead quiet' bearing in mind they are wanting to expand their massive footprint even further.

It dont take a rocket scientist to see that the shops are empty and everyone is trading down. The Warehouse is benefitting. One store that St Lukes doesnt have.

Posted by AndyB at 11:43 am on December 22, 2009

Post new comment

The information entered here will appear with your comment.
Leaving this field blank will default to anonymous.

More information about formatting options