November saw the fastest annual growth rate of any month this year in the volume and value of transactions but it's too early to speculate whether it will be a “strong” Christmas, according to Paymark.The electronic payments provider was estab
November saw the fastest annual growth rate of any month this year in the volume and value of transactions but it’s too early to speculate whether it will be a “strong” Christmas, according to Paymark.
The electronic payments provider was established in 1989 and now processes 75% of all electronic transactions in the country.
Paymark data indicates the volume increased by 5.6% and value - by 5.5%, or $3.78b of transactions during the month.
Paymark chief executive Simon Tong said while these figures look “good” it is still early to predict anything because the Christmas “scorecard” for 2010 will depend largely on the last-minute consumer spending.
“It’s early days yet, and spending is mixed across industries, but these are encouraging signs that the growth in spending over Christmas may finish stronger than the last couple of years.”
The boost in sales comes off the back of stronger retail performance in October – up 3.3% year-on-year by value – and was accentuated by one less Sunday, which has been the slowest trading day of the week in November this year.
Apart from some of the big-ticket retailers such as appliance, electronic and recreational goods stores that still report year-on-year declines in November, many sectors, including automotive repairs (up 12%), supermarkets (up 10%) and footwear (up 8%) reporting increasing sales.
By region, the fastest growing centres in November were Waikato, Palmerston North and South Canterbury with annual increases in value of 9.1%, 7.6% and 8.0% respectively; Marlborough was the only region to experience a fall in trading, recording a 7% drop in value this November.
