Kiwi shoppers spend up big on Boxing Day, eclipsing last year's sales figures

December 27, 2017

Boxing Day spending is expected to reach an all-time high.

Kiwis have continued to hit the shops in droves on Boxing Day as spending reached $139 million in shops around New Zealand yesterday.

Spending yesterday was up 6.4 per cent on Boxing Day 2016 according to Paymark.

It was the regions reaping the rewards.

Even when limited to non-food and non-hospitality merchants within the the core retail sector spending was up by 8.3 per cent.

Sectors of the retail industry with strong Boxing Day growth included department stores (+67.9 per cent), appliance stores (+52.7 per cent), home decorating stores (+38.1 per cent), toy and game shops (+25.8 per cent), footwear shops (+10.1 per cent), and book stores (+9.1 per cent).

However growth among clothing shops was mixed, being down 5.1 per cent in Auckland and Northland, but up strongly in Wanganui, Marlborough, Otago, Taranaki and Bay of Plenty.

Overall annual underlying spending growth was low in major centres Auckland and Northland (+3.7 per cent) and Wellington (+2.4 per cent), compared to high growth in the West Coast (25.7 per cent), Marlborough (+24.4 per cent), Wairarapa (+15.5 per cent) and Gisborne (+12.5 per cent).

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