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Retail spending flat in October as core retail shows weakness (Update 2, corrected)
November 10th, 2009Retail spending was flat in October, despite economist expectations of a rise as consumer confidence remained high over the month. (Update 2 includes number of transactions, average transaction, card proportions, chart.)
Seasonally adjusted retail spending with electronic cards rose fell 0.2% in October from September, with core retail spending, which excludes the vehicle related industries, falling 0.4% over the month, Statistics New Zealand said. Total electronic card spending rose 0.2% over the month.
Unadjusted figures show overall electronic card spending in October was up 1.1% from the same month a year ago, while core retail spending with cards rose 2.8%.
The number of electronic card transactions rose in October to 95 million from 90 million in both September 2009 and October 2008. The average value per transaction remained at its low of NZ$51, compared to NZ$53 a year ago.
The proportion of card transactions that were made with credit cards was the same as in September, at 43.6%. This was down from 45.3% in October 2008.
Here are Stats NZ’s comments on the figures:
After adjusting for seasonal effects, the value of electronic card transactions in core retail (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) fell slightly in October 2009, down 0.4 percent compared with September 2009, Statistics New Zealand said today. The value of transactions in the retail industries was comparatively flat, down just 0.2 percent in October 2009. The main contribution to both falls came from the consumables industry (which includes food, liquor, and chemist retailing).
The total value of electronic card transactions was also comparatively flat, up just 0.2 percent in October 2009. The industries with the largest increases were automotive fuel retailing, non-retail (which includes services such as travel and health, and wholesaling), and durables (which includes furniture, hardware, and appliance retailing).
Trends for the value of transactions in the total, retail, and core retail series have all been increasing since January 2009. The trend in total transactions has been rising at an average monthly rate of 0.4 percent since then, while core retail has risen at an average of 0.3 percent. For the retail series, latest figures indicate the trend may have picked up in the last three months.
Tags: Electronic Card Transactions, retail spending
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November 10th, 2009 at 11:48 am
No suprises here….we are in a “jobless recovery” mode. anyone with a job is worrying how long can it last. You don’t spend money you don’t have in this situation…not to mention higher mortgage repayments in the future.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Just had a young English couple round for coffee and commiserations. Been in NZ a year or so, came because of articles in the Daily Mail about NZ land of opportunity with stories of how Brits came with nothing and are now millionaires.
Can’t get long term work (she was just offered a store management job in Ch Ch $14 an hour.). Using the last of their money to fly to Dunedin for an interview. If that doesn’t lead to anything then back home She has also written to the UK Mail about true state of employment here.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
prosperopink , things are far worse than in the UK in terms of jobs and unemployment. IT really depends what their skills and qualifications are. We are in a world wide recession, so what applied a few years ago, no longer applies. NZ is really no worse than how it is in the UK, and is probably ina better position. It sounds like they thought they could come here, and easily make a million in a short time. My parents are Brits, and have over a million in assets, but they had to work at it, and they have made that over 40 years. They really shouldn’t have come to NZ, unless they already had a job lined up. Brits are known as being wingers, and may parents would fall into that category, and writing to the UK Mail about ‘their experience’ is all very well, but it is only one case, and we don’t know all the facts, such as how skilled they are, and whether their skills are even needed in NZ. I know a brit who came to NZ a few years ago, during the boom times, and became disillusioned becuase he couldn’t find a job, within his skill area. His skills were in motorway design and development , which we don’t have a big demand for in NZ.
November 10th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Rob
I agree with you about being prepared. However, as a Brit myself, your comment about us being whingers is just as applicable to New Zealanders.
I have met many Kiwis in the UK and many of them have been great people (as I’m sure is also the case with Brits in NZ).
However, there are plenty of Kiwis who whinge about this, that and the other in the UK and how much better things are in NZ. If so, why not stay there or go back there?
I have heard (and read) plenty of Kiwis complaining about the UK tightening up on immigration rules – why do they think NZ should be some sort of special case?
At least Brits don’t think that they’ve got a divine right to live and work in NZ.
The amount of Kiwis that I’ve met who think that they are in high demand in the UK and that any Kiwi should have the right to live and work in the UK for as long as they like is just laughable.
The world has moved on – GB owes Kiwis nothing. If you want to live and work in the UK – then earn it via a points sytem as Brits have to do in NZ.
Despite what many Kiwis like to delude themselves with, you are not regarded more highly than other nationalities when you come to the UK. You’re just the same as anyone else.
I’m not anti-Kiwi. it just annoys me when I hear Kiwis slagging off Brits (or anyone else) when they seem to be oblivious to their own faults or think they’re so superior to everyone else that other countries such as the UK can’t get enough of them.
That’s absolute nonsense.
November 10th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
The same could be be said for the Brits Tony. Your comment:
At least Brits don’t think that they’ve got a divine right to live and work in NZ.
Seems to ignore several articles in British papers this year with a New Zealand bashing bent for a tough approach on work permits. This is no different than what has occurred in the U.K. as well.
Actually many Western countries since this recession started have tried to look after their own..
As a joint holder of EU and New Zealand passports I have business interest in both countries. I’m a lucky guy.
Many New Zealander’s have had executive role in the U.K for the sole reason the British don’t seem able to generate enough skilled/hard working professionals for main stream roles to run the place…go figure. I’m not talking about the city by the way.
Lose the City and the U.K will be a economic basket case. The Germans, French and your own Mr Brown seem to be working on that one.
At least now that the U.K is sliding down a long slope many professionals are leaving the country so all the best. At least it will solve their skills gap.
Don’t hang with whingers so can’t comment on that.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Tony said: The world has moved on – GB owes Kiwis nothing. If you want to live and work in the UK – then earn it via a points sytem as Brits have to do in NZ.
As a Pom, I must say this is a sad attitude! At no stage were the British people ever asked if we wanted to to treat our Kiwi kith and kin as aliens – whilst letting huge numbers of migrants (from places where we have no shared history) enjoy the privileges of residence, welfare, and citizenship (not to mention the right, in a disturbing number of cases, to treat with utter contempt our traditions and rule of law) Moreover, fascinating that we read the comment quoted just after a statue to Kiwi Sir Keith Park was unveiled in London!!
Immigration is literally wrecking Britain, and that is the key reason why so many Poms come to New Zealand, site unseen, and often find it a much more difficult place to ‘make good’ than they thought. One thing I’ll guarantee though. They won’t have packed their bags and fled because of a few thousand Kiwis living in London etc. They will have fled because, as Enoch Powell correctly forsaw, they have become the ‘unwanted’ in their own land. Had Powell’s view (and, incidentally, that of Sir Winston Churchill) prevailed we would have had a small and manageable immigrant population today instead of the unfolding tragedy that frankly portends disaster. I left not long after the Salman Rushdie affair – because I correctly forsaw the portent for the future – the abandonment of British law and the national knee bent in craven servitude before Islam.
Back in the 1960s I used to walk home from school with a lovely girl from the Caribbean – another place we just abandoned at the behest of Europe’s evil illumanists when we entered the EEC (European Union). We had – and when we ultimately tell the EU where to stick it we will recover again – every right to discriminate in favour of those (irrespective of ethnicity) with whom we have had a long history of kinship, a shared faith, and abiding friendships.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:08 am
@prosperopink: So reading between the lines, did either have any qualifications? for a store manager on $14 it doesnt look that way….and they are out here in the worst economic slump in 80 if not 150 years…thats un-realistic.
I came here in 1995 on holiday, I decided to stay as I loved it. Im a Hons Degree qualified engineer so got a job but my salary was pathetic, $30K….but I took it as it allowed me to stay and look around, I figured give it a year and see how it goes….Ive stayed and moved on and my salary is now considerably higher and I have a great NZ lifestyle and the family is happy and I am as NZ is a great place for kids under 18.
You dont make money over-night IMHO (ie a year)…and if you can well I dont think NZ is the place to make $…its a place of balance…but if you want to work hard in the right job, yes you can make money, I could certainly earn a lot more if I was into overtime and long hours…If they love NZ for what NZ offers, I’d suggest taking the first job and waiting a year…if they just want to make $ well yes go home…
regards
November 11th, 2009 at 7:14 am
@Tony: same here…there is a difference, I think Brits pull back from excessive risk before a Kiwi would hence maybe the whinning tag. For me the number 8 bailing wire mentality has strengths and weaknesses….be interesting to compare successes with failures, I’d suppose that for NZers with higher risk taking there would be higher success but also bigger busts…the distribution comparision would be interesting.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Hey folks, I just gave them a coffee! Felt sorry for them because they were a bit innocent really. I don’t necessarily think they came for the money but they did expect to be able to work. He is a chef, she a florist.
My point was that the UK papers run lots of stories about NZ as the one of the best places in the world to live. Maybe it is if you are independently wealthy. We are a low wage, small population economy… retail spending is down.. our debt and borrowing is high. We don’t encourage small business. I personally think we are not as clean and green as advertised either. In trying to attract immigration you also must pick up people who can’t make it here.
They have tried hard..going all over the country.
.
November 30th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I came to NZ in 1996 and moved to Brisbane in 1999. I’ve a Bachelors Degree in Creative Technology. Fell flat on my face when I moved here, got a job paying me less than what I earned in New York City, and was alarmed at the comparatively high cost of living!
To spare from engaging in arguments, the facts are these: NZ has low salaries, and high tax at 19.5%, and very high cost of living.
Scenery probably some of the best you can lay your eyes on. If you’re visiting NZ you’ll love it, and you’ll want to visit it again and again.
If you’re planning to settle, don’t do it for money because you won’t earn that much. Career change would be a mistake too. Possibly it’s for those who are tired of materialism, don’t mind living in not so great conditions, and are only influenced by scenery.
Such people exist, but count me out of it.