Black Friday rings up more transactions, but spend value falls on 2023

Monday, 2 December 2024

Tills were ringing this Black Friday, but shoppers were cautious not to overspend.

It seems shoppers have flocked back to the shops, spending up a storm across Black Friday ahead of Christmas.

The latest figures from Worldline show New Zealand consumer spending reached $175.6 million over the three-day Black Friday weekend, starting November 29 ‒ about the same that was spent across Black Friday last year.

The number of transactions was up 2.8% this year, however, the value spent on each purchase was down by the same amount, with the average transaction amounting to $83.50, resulting in a net “no change” in the dollars spent.

Shops and shopping malls were heaving with visitors around the country over the weekend.

Worldline NZ chief sales officer Bruce Proffit said the shopping event was “clearly a big deal for retailers this year”.

The number of transactions recorded across the Black Friday jumped 17% when compared with the previous three-day weekend period.

The average transaction size increased from the previous weekend too, up from $79.80 in spite of the widespread discounting.

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“This means people were making more purchases and spending more than usual on each purchase. However, the overall spend did not surpass last year and there were mixed spending patterns across the country – a reminder that budgets are still tight,” said Proffit.

“There were big increases in some of the smaller regions – which were coming off low bases – and a small increase in Wellington and Waikato, but declines in the other two major regions, Auckland/Northland and in Canterbury,” he said.

Black Friday typically kicks of the Christmas shopping season and in recent years has become extremely lucrative for retailers, who use the occasion to move stock and entice consumers to part with their money with discounts of up to 70% off.

The latest figures show the Black Friday weekend ended a month that was otherwise soft for retail spending, following a pattern recorded across the rest of the year.

Consumer spending through retail stores, and excluding hospitality venues, through the Worldline payments network reached $3.2 billion in November ‒ down slightly by 0.4% on November last year.

The largest annual increases recorded in the month were in Whanganui, with spending up 4.2%, and Otago, up 3.1%.

The largest declines were recorded in Auckland/Northland, down 1.5%, and the same in Wellington.

Retail NZ said Black Friday this year produced a mixed bag for retailers.

“Some members have told us that their Black Friday weekend sales were slightly better than last year, while others have said they were not as good,” said Ann-Marie Johnson, manager of advocacy, advice & communications for the industry member group.

“Retailers have also told us that customers were generally spending less on each transaction.”

The spending data showed that consumers were waiting for the sales to get underway, before they started their Christmas shopping, Johnson said.

“Strong pre-Christmas sales are critical to retailers meeting their annual sales targets. A turnaround in consumer confidence can’t come soon enough so we’re hoping last week’s OCR cut will help boost New Zealanders’ willingness to support local retail businesses.”