Buy NZ made and keep billions of dollars in local tills, Xero says

Monday, 24 November 2025

Shoppers out and about on Lambton Quay in Wellington, which is a mix of small and larger chain retail.

Households spend more than $110 billion with big business each year and redirecting just 10% of that to local retailers could inject billions into the small business economy, according to calculations from Xero.

The global small business platform says its economists analysed last year’s household consumption data and excluded spending unlikely to be with small businesses, like utilities, some transport and communications.

Xero New Zealand country manager Bridget Snelling said switching to spending with small retailers would have a significant positive impact for individual businesses and the wider small business economy, especially during peak spending periods like Black Friday and Christmas.

“If we move just 10% of that to focus on supporting small businesses and local businesses, that's $11 billion that can circulate in the economy and support small businesses, rather than going offshore,” Snelling told The Post.

She said she believed many consumers were oblivious to how spending with large retailers or offshore with international companies affected the economy.

“People are not always conscious spenders and so are not always thinking about where they put their money, who they buy from.

“We need to support the businesses that make up 97% of all businesses in our country. This is a perfect time as we come into Christmas and late Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday, to encourage consumers that if you're going to buy something or you're going to spend your money, to think about supporting a local business.”

The past few years since Covid had been tough for businesses, particularly retailers, Snelling said. “You can walk down any shopping strip around the country and there will be empty shops because the cost of leases has gone up or they're not earning enough or not getting enough sales to justify remaining in the physical store.”

Xero Small Business Insights for the September quarter show a negative jobs growth of 1.2% year-on-year and a 2.9% improvement in national sales across the sector.

The improvement in sales data pointed to the beginning of an economic turnaround and came after four quarters of no growth, Snelling said.

Appliance Outlet’s latest advertisement campaign pokes fun at some of the country’s biggest retailers and their Black Friday discounting.

“We've seen a bit of an increase in September. If we can see that again in the December quarter, then there's the sign things are coming right.”

Russell Clements, director of Auckland retailer Appliance Outlet, which sells large appliances and refurbished appliances such as ovens and fridges, believed small retailers were often overlooked as consumers assumed they had smaller product ranges or less competitive prices.

Clements urged consumers to rethink where they are putting their money.

“The big guys can afford to make a bit of a reduction during the tighter period. Harvey Norman is not going to go out of business, but it’s questionable whether some of the smaller guys will survive in tough times so it pays to do some business with them.”

His message is “support the little guys”.

“A couple of our food competitors are Australian as well and so we’re sending a lot of our money to Australia, including all the banks and some of the hardware stores. I think keeping it local definitely helps with the local economy and helps Kiwis be able to live better; so we can pay our people better and ensure they keep their jobs, and then they can put more money back to the economy, so it keeps going round.”