Worldline data reveals that spending on its payment network through December fell short of the previous year’s levels.
Consumer spending at core retail merchants in 2025 totalled $4.702 billion, a 0.2% decline from December 2024.
Wellington saw the sharpest drop at 3.7%, followed by Bay of Plenty’s 2.6% decline, while Whanganui bucked the trend with a 4.1% rise.
“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,” Chief Sales Officer Bruce Proffit said.
Spending at food and liquor merchants rose 4% year-on-year in December, tracking closely with November’s 4.4% food price inflation.
Proffit noted a surge in online spending.
“The online spending processed through Worldline was up 18.9% in December. This pattern is likely to be repeated amongst other online payment systems, judging by earlier reports and international patterns.”
Boxing Day non-food spending hit $51 million, a 12.4% drop from 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,” Proffit said.
Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said the figures highlighted the harsh realities facing retailers.
She pointed to recent announcements of EB Games’ planned closure and Yoyoso’s liquidation as examples.
“The retail sector has been under significant strain over the last two to three years, with businesses advising that they have been absorbing as many cost increases as they can, working harder than ever as margins are being squeezed, which have created significant challenges for businesses to remain open.”
“We will be hoping for a brighter economy and positive consumer confidence in 2026.”
“Either in New Zealand or online, but making sure they are New Zealand stores you’re buying from; that keeps the economy going in New Zealand. That’s critically important.”
Young said tourism sector growth would draw international spending into New Zealand.
“We need further economic growth and job growth,” she said. “We’ve been in a period of unemployment; we’ve seen unemployment rising. People are still concerned about job security.”
“So until we’ve got greater confidence in our job position and you know it’s going to be a challenge for individuals to feel confident about being able to spend on something rather than putting it aside in case they don’t have a job.”
“There’s still more to do in terms of the economy.”