Kiwis spent more on food and less on other goods in December, while Boxing Day sales were quieter

This is Worldline's holiday season report on retail trading.

Consumer spending through the Worldline payments network was up amongst Food and Liquor merchants in December 2025, but generally below year-ago levels amongst other core retailers who also saw quieter Boxing Day sales than last year.

Consumer spending processed through all Core Retail merchants in Worldline NZ’s payments network during December 2025 reached $4.702B, which is down -0.2% on December 2024 (following adjustments for merchants coming and going from the network.)

Worldline NZ’s Chief Sales Officer, Bruce Proffit, says the figures show both a tough retailing environment in total over the last and busy month of the year and revealed some notable shifts in shopping behaviour by Kiwi consumers.

“There was more spending at Food and Liquor stores in Worldline’s network across December, which is consistent with generally higher food prices and people prioritising the essentials in their budgets,” he says.

Proffit says spending at Food and Liquor merchants was up +4.0% in December, which is similar to the 4.4% latest reported food price inflation rate November-to-November, while spending amongst the remaining Core Retail merchants was down -4.4% in December.

"Within the full month of December, the busiest days for Food and Liquor stores were in the days leading up to Christmas Day, while the busiest days for Hospitality merchants were in the Saturdays of December. The busiest days for the remaining merchants were mixed.”

Proffit says there also appears to be more online spending through Core Retailers in Worldline’s payments network.

“The online spending processed through Worldline was up +18.9% in December. This pattern is likely to be repeated amongst other online payments systems, judging by earlier reports and international patterns.”

Annual growth of Core Retail spending through Worldline NZ’s payments network in December 2025 was highest in Whanganui (+4.2%) and Otago (+2.3%), while spending declines were largest in percentage terms in Wellington (-3.7%) and Bay of Plenty (-2.6%).

^{Figure 1: All Cards NZ underlying* spending through Worldline in December 2025 for core retail merchants (* Underlying excludes large clients moving to or from Worldline)}

Meanwhile, spending on Boxing Day across all non-food stores through Worldline NZ’s payments network reached $51.2m, which was down -12.4% on Boxing Day 2024. “Boxing Day was generally a busier day for Clothing merchants, but for most other non-food stores in our network, their busiest days were still in the two days prior to Christmas Day,” notes Proffit. “What’s clear though is that Boxing Day 2025 was not as high a spending day for Kiwi consumers as Black Friday 2025, with sales on that day - 28th November - reaching $55.6m.”

^{Figure 2: All Cards NZ underlying* spending through Worldline in December 2025 for core retail merchants excluding food/liquor and hospitality (* Underlying excludes large clients moving to or from Worldline)}