Retail spending flat in October as core retail shows weakness (Update 2, corrected)

Retail spending was flat in October, despite economist expectations of a rise as consumer confidence remained high over the month. (Update 2 includes number of transactions, average transaction, card proportions, chart.) Seasonally adjusted retail spending with electronic cards rose fell 0.2% in October from September, with core retail spending, which excludes the vehicle related industries, falling 0.4% over the month, Statistics New Zealand said. Total electronic card spending rose 0.2% over the month. Unadjusted figures show overall electronic card spending in October was up 1.1% from the same month a year ago, while core retail spending with cards rose 2.8%. The number of electronic card transactions rose in October to 95 million from 90 million in both September 2009 and October 2008. The average value per transaction remained at its low of NZ$51, compared to NZ$53 a year ago. The proportion of card transactions that were made with credit cards was the same as in September, at 43.6%. This was down from 45.3% in October 2008. Here are Stats NZ's comments on the figures:

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the value of electronic card transactions in core retail (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) fell slightly in October 2009, down 0.4 percent compared with September 2009, Statistics New Zealand said today. The value of transactions in the retail industries was comparatively flat, down just 0.2 percent in October 2009. The main contribution to both falls came from the consumables industry (which includes food, liquor, and chemist retailing). The total value of electronic card transactions was also comparatively flat, up just 0.2 percent in October 2009. The industries with the largest increases were automotive fuel retailing, non-retail (which includes services such as travel and health, and wholesaling), and durables (which includes furniture, hardware, and appliance retailing). Trends for the value of transactions in the total, retail, and core retail series have all been increasing since January 2009. The trend in total transactions has been rising at an average monthly rate of 0.4 percent since then, while core retail has risen at an average of 0.3 percent. For the retail series, latest figures indicate the trend may have picked up in the last three months.