Spending on vehicles jumps $12m

Retail card spending on vehicles increased by $12 million last month, a rise of six per cent when compared with the total in September 2022.

The seasonally adjusted figures show $211m was spent on the industry in October, up from $199m in the previous month, the latest data from Stats NZ shows.

October’s tally represented a rise of 11.1 per cent from the $190m splurged using electronic cards in the same month of last year. It was also the highest monthly total since July 2021 when consumers spent $212m.

The actual value for spending on vehicles last month was $208m, an increase of $18m, or 9.3 per cent, from $190m in October 2021.

The industry played a key part in electronic card spending across all retail industries last month increasing by $66m, or one per cent, from September’s total, when adjusted for seasonal effects. 

Other key industries on the rise were durables, up $46m or 2.8 per cent, and consumables, up $23m or 0.9 per cent. Spending on fuel increased by $5.5m, or 0.9 per cent, to $606m.

Ricky Ho, business performance manager, says: “This is the first month where spending has increased across all categories since May 2022 ... Card spending could also have been impacted by the increase in prices over the last several months.”

In actual terms, total card spending was $9.1 billion, up 20.2 per cent from October 2021.