Vehicles drag down spending stats

Retail card spending on motor vehicles came in at $204 million last month, which was down by $4.5m, or 2.2 per cent, when compared with the levels seen in February.

It was the equal biggest month-on-month decrease in percentage terms among the six retail categories featured in the latest seasonally adjusted figures from Stats NZ .

Apparel also slumped by the same percentage, or $7.5m, in March, while spending on fuel was down by $7.7m, or 1.4 per cent.

The adjusted dollar total for vehicles last month was also the lowest since January 2023 when it also clocked $204m.

Overall spending in the retail industries for March decreased by $45m, or 0.7 per cent, month-on-month.

However, the total value of electronic card spending last month, including non-retail categories, increased from February by $9.9m, or 0.1 per cent.

In actual terms, cardholders made 168m transactions across all industries in March, with an average value of $55 per transaction.

The total amount spent using electronic cards was $9.2 billion.

Quarterly performance

The value of electronic card transactions for vehicles also fell in the March quarter to $618m, a drop of 1.1 per cent from $633m in the same period a year ago.

Only fuel had a larger percentage drop in the seasonally adjusted figures, sliding $28m, or 1.7 per cent, over the same timeframe.

Quarterly spending in the retail industries overall was up by $27m, or 0.1 per cent.