Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

It’s been another tough year financially for many New Zealand households and businesses.

While some commentators said in 2024 that businesses needed to focus on the mantra “survive til 2025”, for some it was a case of battling to survive through the year, too.

Some high-profile names didn’t make it.

Here are 10 that did not see out the year, in no particular order.

GrabOne

Grab One left a lot of voucher-holders worried when it went into liquidation in October, owning more than $16.5 million.

GrabOne was launched in 2010 and offered discounts on goods and services for local businesses. It was sold to Global Marketplace New Zealand by former owner NZME in 2021, for $17.5m.

But marketing expert Bodo Lang, of Massey University, told RNZ that GrabOne’s problem was that it failed to provide value to its target market.

“In other words, its vouchers, which were once upon a time exciting, had lost their appeal.

“A closely related second reason for GrabOne’s liquidation is that it suffered from declining top of mind brand awareness. While GrabOne was on everybody’s mind and in every dinner conversation some years ago, a lack of brand investment meant that the brand was slowly buried amongst advertising by other brands.”

Kitchen Things

Even suppliers of bougie kitchen supplies couldn’t make it through the downturn unscathed.

Kitchen Things went into receivership in August, citing weak consumer demand and tough competition.

Kitchen Things was founded in 1986 and dealt in high end international appliance brands including Smeg, Miele, Asko, and Bosch.

The Hamilton shop was not affected because it was run by an independent franchisee.

Smiths City

Smiths City was placed into voluntary administration in September, sending shockwaves through Christchurch in particular.

The company, which was founded in 1918, has nine stores across the country and an online shop.

Administrators BDO said the company had faced increasing financial pressures amid a challenging economic environment.

Smith & Caughey

Queen St landmark Smith & Caughey closed its doors for the last time on July 31, after almost 150 years.

It had already closed its Newmarket branch in 2024 and reduced the inner-city shop to one floor.

The retailer cited increased competition from new shopping malls, continued economic uncertainty and low consumer confidence and spending power as problems that led to the closure.

It also said Queen St foot traffic had decline and parking was more expensive for shoppers.

Fortune Favours

Wellington brewery Fortune Favours announced in August that it would close its Wellington bar by the end of the month.

The company said the cost of living crisis had become too difficult to navigate.

Garage Project took over the site.

NZSale

NZSale closed to New Zealand orders at the end of November. The Australian business, OzSale, is set to close in the new year.

Timeless Events

Timeless Events, the company behind the Juicy Fest music festival, was placed into voluntary liquidation in March.

Juicy Fest was cancelled in New Zealand this year after it was declined a liquor licence in Auckland.

The Body Shop

Millennials across the country mourned the end of dewberry-scented The Body Shop when it went into liquidation in April.

All of the New Zealand shops closed and 70 jobs were lost.

The Body Shop was founded in the UK in 1976 by Dame Anita Roddick, but problems with the UK business spelled the end locally, too.

It went into liquidation with millions of dollars in liabilities.

In November, it was announced that the brand had a new franchise owner and a shop in Richmond, near Nelson.

Libelle Group

School lunch provider Libelle Group went into liquidation in March.

It had been contracted to Compass to supply lunches for the beleagured scheme.

DFS

DFS, in Auckland and Queenstown, closed at the end of September.

The downtown Auckland shop, which stocked high end brands such as Armani and Burberry, had been open for decades.

It went through a revamp in 2018.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Automobile Association believes a proposed merger between two fuel companies should drive down pump prices.

NPD and Gull want to combine sites, teams and supply chains to form what they say would be the largest independent, majority New Zealand-owned fuel company.

The proposal is subject to Commerce Commission approval.

The South Island-based Sheridan family would own half of the new company, with Barry Sheridan – current NPD owner and chief executive – to become the head of the new company.

Australasian private equity firm Allegro Funds, which owns Gull, would hold the other half.

In a joint statement, NPD and Gull said each of their combined 240 sites would retain their distinctive brand.

AA principal policy advisor Terry Collins said both companies had a low-cost business model.

“What that means is that the savings are passed onto customers. When Gull first arrived with that model in New Zealand it became known as the Gull effect because it dropped the prices and competitors had to match it,” he said.

“Now you’ve got two strong companies with a similar model seeking to merge their business and utilise their assets a lot more efficiently. If they do that, then we’ll obviously see lower prices as they pass them on, but how much savings they can make and pass on is yet to be seen.”

Collins believed merging would be a smart business move for both companies.

“Basically it secures their supply for the company, and it also has the synergy of their own terminal in Mount Maunganui that Gull had and all the freight and trucking logistics in the South Island that NPD did,” he said.

“Gull was owned by an investment company out of Australia and NPD is a family-owned operator, so they’ve got two sharp kind of management teams together who have known their business for a long time.”

Collins noted that over this holiday period, generally all the oil companies seemed to be making excessive margins.

“We’ve been tracking the price of fuel for the last couple of months and we’re watching as the international landed prices dropped, the retail prices haven’t dropped at the same level,” he said.

“I think what they need to be doing is drop some of those prices more. Fuel in the first quarter of next year should be much cheaper unless something major geopolitically happens.

“The price of oil has been below US$60 at some stages and we want to see those savings passed on to our motorists.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Every week in 2025, RNZ money correspondent Susan Edmunds answered your questions online and on her podcast [ https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/no-stupid-questions No Stupid Questions].

Here are some of the most-asked questions this year. If you have any you would like her to tackle in 2026, send them to questions@rnz.co.nz

I’m not quite at retirement age yet but I’m planning. My daughter lives in Canada and I will go to visit her and potentially use her as a base to go sightseeing. I see that if you are away for more than 26 weeks you can lose your pension unless you make provisions with Work and Income.

If you have lived and worked in NZ and reach retirement why should there be any conditions on travelling if that’s what you want to do? Sure, they need to keep tabs in case you pass away and guard against fraudulent activity, but this legislation feels out of touch with the needs of many families in this day and age.

I took your question to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), which indicated it’s basically about keeping the scheme affordable for New Zealand.

General manager for the international disability and generational policy group Harry Fenton said it had always been a feature of NZ Super (NZS) that eligibility was based on residence in this country.

He said it was one of the aspects of the scheme that was designed to keep it fiscally sustainable.

He said people who wanted to travel could receive their pension for 26 weeks if they returned to New Zealand within 30 weeks.

“A person who wants to travel or live overseas for longer than 26 weeks can also apply under the general portability payments and their payment is proportional to their residence in New Zealand between the ages of 20 and 65.

“A person living permanently overseas may be able to receive up to the full rate of NZS if the country they’re residing in has a social security agreement with New Zealand. What a person may be eligible to receive will depend on their personal circumstances and the provisions of the individual agreement. New Zealand has a social security agreement with 10 countries which includes Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.”

Fenton said people move to certain Pacific Island countries could also receive payment of the pension proportional to their time as a resident in New Zealand.

I was 35 when KiwiSaver began … I was a full-time worker, wasn’t receiving a benefit. It was like this until this year, when I was told by my doctor that I can no longer work as I have osteoarthritis halfway down my back to my legs.

The skills I had were as a cleaner and I ended as a customer service representative, so I was on my feet a lot. I am now just about 55, I’ve got 10 years until retirement.

No one out there now will employ me as I’m just hitting retirement age and I have health issues. My husband and I are now on a supported living benefit together, he hasn’t worked for 19 years.

My KiwiSaver doesn’t get any money from my wages any more.

Can I get all my KiwiSaver money out that is in there? It’s all my hard work and I no longer work.

This is a really tough situation, and I can understand why it must be frustrating to have your KiwiSaver money there but untouchable!

You can’t close a KiwiSaver account in the same way that you would a bank account.

When you first sign up, you can opt out if you do it quickly, but once you’re in the scheme, you can only stop contributions.

You can withdraw in limited circumstances: When you hit 65, if you meet the criteria for financial hardship, if you’re buying a first home or if you are leaving the country permanently, but not if you’re going to Australia.

In your case, unless you’re actually falling behind on your bills, you probably won’t meet the hardship test.

I checked with Rupert Carlyon, who is the founder of KiwiSaver provider Koura.

He said: “Unfortunately, she is only allowed to withdraw for serious financial hardship if she can’t meet her day-to-day living costs or if she has bills that she is unable to pay.”

He said there was a category that allowed for withdrawals in cases of serious illness but if you’re still able to do some types of work you might not qualify for that.

The KiwiSaver Act defines serious illness as something “that results in the member being totally and permanently unable to engage in work for which he or she is suited by reason of experience, education, or training, or any combination of those things; or that poses a serious and imminent risk of death”. (You could always check with your provider to see what advice they could offer.)

Carlyon said he realised the situation was not ideal for you. “But the positive is that from the age of 65 they will be able to draw down and use the money to help the next phase of her retirement.”

My parents are in their late 70s. Dad is in rest home hospital care in a rest home with physical issues and dementia and he and Mum own a unit in the same retirement village, which would gain $150,000 when they sell (die or both in care). They have joint savings of $50,000 and own a car (no other assets). Dad’s care is funded by the government and is $11,000 a month. In the unlikely event mum was to pass away before dad, would the house proceeds and savings be used by the government to fund dad’s care? Or would this inheritance be paid out to us children as per their will?

Your parents’ assets are below the rest home subsidy asset test threshold so even if the money were to pass to him as relationship property, as I expect it would, it would not be enough to affect the subsidy for his care.

The threshold of assets in this situation would be $284,636. It would only be assets above that which would affect him receiving the government support.

If one person in a de facto relationship needs permanent medical care, does the government require the other partner to pay for the care once the unwell patient’s funds run out?

The basic answer to your question is that when your partner is being assessed for their ability to pay for their care, your income and assets will usually be taken into account.

If you’re referring to medical care in a rest home setting, your assets and personal income affect whether your partner will qualify for a residential care subsidy.

“People who need residential care are required to pay for it themselves, if they can afford to do so. If they cannot afford it, they may be eligible for a residential care subsidy, which Health New Zealand pays directly to the care provider,” said Ministry of Social Development group general manager for client service delivery Graham Allpress.

“MSD’s role is to check whether people qualify for this subsidy by performing a ‘financial means assessment’.

“To get the subsidy, a person’s income and assets must be under a certain amount. If they are in a relationship, the combined income and assets of both parties must be under a certain amount.”

People can qualify for the subsidy if they are 50 to 64, single and without dependent children, or over 65 and meet the income and means test. That means, even if your partner’s funds have run out, your assets could still be taken into account.

If only one partner needs care, the couple combined need to have assets of no more than $155,873 not including the family home and car, or $284,636 if you do want the home and car in the assessment.

If it’s other types of care that you’re thinking of, it could be a good idea to contact Health NZ for a needs assessment.

There are options such as the supported living payment but eligibility for this is assessed on a household income basis, too.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Napier antique shop owner is blaming the high price of silver, after an overnight burglary at her store between Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Raewyn Dailey from Napier Antiques said the thieves stole $50,000 worth of silver jewellery.

The jewellery had been sourced overseas and would be difficult to replace.

“We’ve put so much effort into getting our stock, and we can’t just up and travel overseas and buy it again easily,” she said.

Spot prices for silver had more than doubled since December last year.

Retail crime in the city had risen significantly in the past four years, she said.

“The crime is just terrible, and it’s getting worse and worse, and no matter what we do security-wise, nothing seems to quite cut it any more.”

The stock was especially needed for visitors coming into the city for the Napier Art Deco Festival, which was just two months away, and is a major boost to business that they count on, Dailey said.

“You know it couldn’t happened at a worse time for us. Being an antique store we’re not a regular gifting shop where people come in before Christmas to buy, they actually come in when they’re travelling around, and this is our busiest time, from today.”

In recent years, disruptions to business from Cyclone Gabrielle and the pandemic had made an impact, especially due to the festival being cancelled over multiple years, she had earlier told RNZ.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Consumer NZ is urging people to do their homework, double check gift cards and know their rights ahead of Boxing Day sale frenzy.

Electronic transaction figures showed pre-Christmas spending was slightly down on last year, but many may be waiting for the post-Christmas sales to nab a bargain.

Last year New Zealanders spent almost $68 million on Boxing Day.

Consumer campaign manager Jessica Walker said shoppers should separate their wants from their needs and set a budget before hitting the shops to avoid a “buy-now-regret-later” situation.

She advised researching prospective purchases, as constantly fluctuating prices made it hard to know whether discounts were genuine or just a variation on the usual price, and check the item was not cheaper elsewhere.

It was a breach of the Fair Trading Act to mislead customers about the regular price, she said.

Consumer Guarantees Act will ‘see you right’

Walker urged shoppers to resist the pressure to purchase extended warranties – you’re already covered under the Consumer Guarantees Act.

“Sometimes retailers will give you a really hard sell, especially if you buy a product on sale it might be a even more enticing opportunity for retailers to try and make some money from an extended warranty.”

Walker recommended people ask what an extended warranty would provide that the Consumer Guarantees Act would not.

“Most of the time I think you’ll find its very little. The Consumer Guarantees Act doesn’t just cover you for the period of the manufacturer’s warranty, it covers reasonable use over a reasonable length of time. The vast majority of the time, that’s going to see you right – if a product’s failed you do have the right to ask for a refund or an exchange depending on what’s gone wrong.”

Protections under the Consumer Guarantees Act applied whether people purchased sale goods or full priced ones, and signs warning of no refunds or exchanges on sale items were misleading, Walker said.

“Just because you bought something on sale does not mean you’re forgoing your consumer rights.”

Retailers did not have to refund for a change of mind, but if something was faulty or did not last as long as it should, “the retailer needs to put you right”.

“If one of your Boxing Day purchases is faulty, the retailer must put things right. You don’t need the original packaging to return the product.”

If shoppers did get into difficulty and could not get redress at the store, they could take a complaint to the Commerce Commission, or take the matter to the disputes tribunal, at a cost of $61.

The filing fee was non-refundable, even if the tribunal found in the customer’s favour, and could be a barrier, Walker said.

Beware dark designs that fuel FOMO

Walker also warned of “dark patterns” while online shopping – digital methods designed to encourage people to spend more than they intended, like countdown timers or warnings of low or rapidly diminshing stock.

“These tactics play on our FOMO [fear of missing out] and effectively encourage us to spend more, and quickly.”

The deepest discount or top of the range product did not necessarily mean a good deal, with Consumer product tests often finding the most expensive product was not necessarily the best.

“A big discount doesn’t necessarily mean a good deal.”

Be sure to spend gift cards

From March next year, gift cards would be required to have an expiry date at least three years from the date the card was sold.

Until then, Walker recommended keeping on top of expiry dates, which varied.

“Gift cards can come with really short expiry times, and people also put them in a drawer and lose them – our research has shown there’s about $10 million dollars goes on unspent gift cards every year.

“If you’re hitting the shops and think you’ve got a gift card lurking we would encourage people to hunt it out and find it so they don’t end up giving a gift to the retailer – if you’ve got money there you can spend, we encourage people to use it before they lose it.

“Our advice is don’t buy something unless you really need or want it. While the pull of the last sale of 2025 could be strong, the first sale of 2026 is probably less than a week away,” Walker said.

Cost of living pressures squeezing many at Christmas

Worldine transaction figures showed Christmas spending was down on 2024, with consumer spending for the first three weeks of December hitting just over $3 billion.

A survey of nearly 1100 Westpac customers earlier this month showed nearly three-quarters (73 percent) were either extremely or moderately concerned about the cost of living, little changed from last year, while a survey conducted by accounting software company MYOB found the ongoing pressures of the cost of living squeeze were pushing respondents to seek additional income sources or take on debt to pay for presents.

A third said their financial position was the same as it was this time last year, while 42 percent felt worse off, and a quarter felt better off.

More than half expected to spend about the same on gifts last year, and 15 percent set to spend more, while more than a quarter planned to cut back.

To help cover costs, people were turning to side hustles or additional income sources, credit or buy-now-pay-later options.

While the latest StatsNZ figures showed a small drop in food prices prompted by a fall in the cost of fruit and vegetables, overall food was 4.4 percent more expensive than this time last year.

Meanwhile, 18,000 jobs had been lost in the past year, and unemployment was sitting at 5.3 percent, a nine-year high.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fuel companies NPD and Gull have announced plans to merge national operations.

While still subject to Commerce Commission approval, the move would combine NPD and Gull sites, teams and supply chains to form the largest independent, majority Kiwi-owned fuel company.

Each of their combined 240 sites would maintain it’s distinctive brand – Gull sites are most common in the North Island, and NPD in the South, the companies said in a statement released on Christmas Day.

The South Island-based Sheridan family would own fifty percent, with Barry Sheridan, the current NPD owner and chief executive, to become the head of the new company.

Australasian private equity firm Allegro Funds, which owns Gull, would hold the other half.

The companies said the move should drive down pump prices, with Sheridan saying both companies were focused on making it easy for customers to pay less.

“NPD started doing so more than 55 years ago and Gull started shaking up the market 25 years ago,” he said. “Together, we’ll do even more, so motorists pay less.”

The companies had a combined staff of 130, and a combined buying power of one billion litres of fuel a year.

Gull chief executive Dan Gilbert said: “Joining forces means we’ll be everywhere, accelerating what we can do for more customers in more places.”

Duplicating systems and sharing services would help the new company continue to deliver market leading competitive pricing to motorists, the statement said.

The parties said they had already engaged with the Commerce Commission, and an application for clearance would be registered in January.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fuel companies NPD and Gull have announced plans to merge national operations.

While still subject to Commerce Commission approval, the move would combine NPD and Gull sites, teams and supply chains to form the largest independent, majority Kiwi-owned fuel company.

Each of their combined 240 sites would maintain it’s distinctive brand – Gull sites are most common in the North Island, and NPD in the South, the companies said in a statement released on Christmas Day.

The South Island-based Sheridan family would own fifty percent, with Barry Sheridan, the current NPD owner and chief executive, to become the head of the new company.

Australasian private equity firm Allegro Funds, which owns Gull, would hold the other half.

The companies said the move should drive down pump prices, with Sheridan saying both companies were focused on making it easy for customers to pay less.

“NPD started doing so more than 55 years ago and Gull started shaking up the market 25 years ago,” he said. “Together, we’ll do even more, so motorists pay less.”

The companies had a combined staff of 130, and a combined buying power of one billion litres of fuel a year.

Gull chief executive Dan Gilbert said: “Joining forces means we’ll be everywhere, accelerating what we can do for more customers in more places.”

Duplicating systems and sharing services would help the new company continue to deliver market leading competitive pricing to motorists, the statement said.

The parties said they had already engaged with the Commerce Commission, and an application for clearance would be registered in January.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Depending on who you talked to, we were meant to be surviving til 2025, or even thriving in ’25.

But when attention turned to whether there was a new phrase to indicate that businesses needed to hold on another year until 2026, it was a clear indication that the economy had not lived up to expectations this year.

(And “stay in the mix for 2026” isn’t quite as catchy.)

Liquidations are at least at a decade high, and total unemployment is as high as it has been in about the same time.

So why has the economy so persistently underperformed this year?

Mike Jones, chief economist at BNZ, said there were three key issues.

“Population growth was pretty meagre throughout the year, it ran about half the long-run average. If you’re not having more people coming in, moving around, spending, doing stuff, it makes it harder.

“The housing market did a whole bunch of not much through the year. If you look at the national house price numbers, that’s pretty flat for the year. It’s probably the third year in which things didn’t really move at all. That impacts people’s willingness to spend.

“The third one would be that cost of living pressures didn’t subside at all. They probably nudged up a bit through the year. We had some nasty increases in food prices in particular. All of those things have impacted spending appetites and abilities.”

He said the introduction of tariffs from the US had also had more impact than might have been expected.

“We knew it was coming but the announcement effect, shock impact and the confidence hit was probably a bit more than expected as well.”

He said things had shown signs of recovery in the middle of the year and then the tariffs impact helped to create an “air pocket”.

“It’s always difficult looking at the official GDP numbers because they told us that the second quarter in particular was very, very weak.

“But then we had some volatility and a big bounce back in the third quarter. So it’s difficult to get an accurate read, I think, on what’s been happening with the economy just from looking at those figures. In our view, you sort of smooth through it a bit and look at average growth, this year it was 0.3 percent a quarter, pretty underwhelming.”

Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said compared to the Reserve Bank’s survey of expectations at the end of last year, the biggest difference had been what happened with GDP.

“The economy just didn’t get moving at the same pace, it slowed down particularly in the second quarter… looking at the survey of expectations at the end of 2024, expectations were for a 1.6 percent annual average GDP growth figure. We’ve only got figures until September but they highlight that year-end activity is down about half a percentage point. We’d be looking for a positive figure to start with, let alone trying to achieve something over 1 percent. We’re still in the deficit column.”

Expectations had also been for the official cash rate to be higher than it is, which Olsen said reflected that the Reserve Bank had had to push it down to get the economy moving. Inflation had also been lower than expected.

“The one that really gets me is the house price index, one year out it was expected to be 3 percent up [this year]. At the moment it’s not looking anywhere near there. I think actually that’s long-term encouraging because it means we’re not reliant on house price growth to pick the economy up.”

He said forecasting could be a humbling experience.

“The last couple of years it’s been quite hard to pick not only how the different parts of the economy move together but also the timing of it all. The delays and how quickly interest rate support and similar has influenced the economy and how households and businesses tie all the economic factors together.”

Olsen said part of the problem had been that people were worried about their jobs, even as home loan rates fell.

Both said they expected more from 2026.

“We’re seeing conditions move into place for a reasonable recovery next year,” Jones said. “All of that relates to the fact that the spending numbers we are seeing are looking better.

“There is all sorts of risks as there always are but we think we’re set for a much better 2026.”

Olsen said there were already signs of a pick-up.

“The survey of expectations for the end of this year says that forecasters are expecting unemployment to be about 5 percent in a year’s time, that time it takes for the labour market to fully shift and evolve. GDP growth is being upgraded to 2 percent or just over 2 percent in a year’s time.

“That’s probably a reflection not only of the lower cash rate but also mathematically it’s a bit easier to get growth out of an economic hole than to try to get growth out of an already growing economy.”

Carolyn Young, chief executive of Retail NZ, said the data could be affected by when in the week Christmas fell.

But she said it was disappointing that after a “solid” November, the data was not better.

“We were hoping that was the sign of that changing economy that we’ve been talking about for so long through all the Reserve Bank adjustments of the official cash rate… lower numbers mean consumers are not yet convinced they’ve got extra cash in their wallets to spend.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Customer care workers at Woolworths are on strike until midnight on Wednesday, in protest of the removal of working-from-home privileges and a mandatory one weekend day off.

It’s the third strike by Workers First Union members in the customer care team in the past fortnight, the union says, following four rounds of negotiations for better pay and conditions in the past two months.

These workers are responsible for assisting with online ordering and logistics, customer complaints and refunds, and queries about ‘Everyday Rewards’, Park said.

Workers First organiser Elle Sun-Min Park said members were asking for higher wages, and pushing back against attempts to remove existing entitlements such as one weekend day off per week, and the ability to work from home.

Some staff were hired as remote workers following the pandemic, she said, and had now moved out of the city.

They were also protesting a requirement to be available, on-call, for 12 hours per working day, while only being paid for eight, she said.

Some 105 staff were involved in the strike action, and the union expected it would cause delays for customer enquiries, particularly this close to Christmas.

RNZ has approached Woolworths for comment.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Busiest shopping day of the year
• Peak time 12 noon-1 pm – 563,303 transactions
• Per second peak – 167 transactions
• Number of sales beats Black Friday, but lowest Christmas Eve in six years

Christmas Eve has been the busiest shopping day of the year with 9,745 sales a minute at its peak.

Payments company Worldline says noon to 1pm saw 563,303 sales recorded on its network, down by about 7 percent on a year ago.

The company’s network covers about three-quarters of the electronic terminals in operation.

Worldline did not have a dollar value for spending, but the peak number of transactions was the lowest for the past six years and well shy of the record 679,436 in 2019, before the pandemic.

Earlier this month it noted rising sales in the first three weeks of the month, but they remained 1.3 percent lower than 2024, with most parts of the country trailing the previous year’s spending.

Official data from Stats NZ to the end of November showed a small rise in spending on the previous month, to 1.6 percent higher for the year.

Retail spending has been subdued as households have remained cautious because of high prices and a slow benefit from lower interest rates, and as well as concerns about the soft labour market.

However, recent surveys have shown improving consumer sentiment with ANZ bank’s monthly report showing confidence at its highest level in four years.

Boxing Day is traditionally the country’s favourite shopping day, but with Black Friday spending also softer this year the amount going through retailers’ terminals may also be down on a year ago.

Adding a dampener to consumer spending may be the recent rises in longer term fixed mortgage rates because of higher wholesale rates.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand