Drop in car spending

Retail expenditure on motor vehicles using electronic cards declined by 2.9 per cent and $5.6 million last month when compared to March.

The seasonally adjusted total for the industry in April was $188m, which was also $10m lower than in the same month of 2024.

Transactions for fuel declined by $11m or 2.2 per cent last month to $491m, reports Stats NZ, as overall spending in the retail industries was unchanged at $6.46 billion.

That said, spending in core retail sectors rose by 0.2 per cent and $12m over the same timescale to $5.79b. Consumables went up by $13m and 0.5 per cent to $2.71b.

In actual terms, cardholders made 158 million transactions across all industries in April with an average value of $55 per transaction. 

The total amount spent using plastic, which includes debit, credit, and charge cards, came in at $8.7b last month.