A $25 million drop in fuel spending was the largest contributor to a monthly drop in retail card transactions in May 2023, while purchases on motor vehicles only dropped slightly for the month.
Retail card spending on motor vehicles was down 0.1% month-on-month to $209 million in May 2023.
On a year-on-year basis, retail card spending on motor vehicles was up compared to $206m spent in May 2022.
That was amid a drop in total retail card spending which fell $113 million (1.7%) for the month, according to seasonally adjusted data from Stats NZ.
Seasonally adjusted card spending fell across all retail industries (including consumables, durables, apparel, fuel, and motor vehicles), as well as the non-retail excluding services category.
Services was the only industry that saw a month-on-month increase, rising $1.4m (0.4%) compared with April 2023.
The largest contributor to the fall in retail card spending was fuel, down $25m (4.5%), followed by apparel, down $13m (3.7%).
The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories, decreased by $174m (1.9%) in May 2023.
“This is the first time since December 2022 that only one industry saw a rise in spending, and the first time since February this year that total card spending fell,” business performance manager Ricky Ho says.
In actual terms, retail card spending was $6.4 billion, up 3.3% ($203 million) from May 2022.
Electronic card transactions data covers the use of credit and debit cards in shops and online, and includes both the retail and services industries.
