A strong December for online purchases by Kiwis: up 13% on a year ago

Kiwi online retailers held their own over the holiday shopping season in December, according to the latest BNZ Online Retail index out today.

The index however shows the underlying trend for 2013 is for us to shop this way 'without borders' choosing offshore merchants at an increasing rate.

Even so, the growth in online spending at domestic stores in December was more than double the growth rate reported by Statistics NZ for electronic card transactions (using broadly comparable industries).

Online retail spending at domestic stores in December was around 9% higher than in December 2012. It  varies considerably across store types. Groceries and liquor, furniture, sport and camping equipment, toys and games, entertainment media and garden supplies were some of the categories showing double digit growth compared to December 2012.

In New Zealand, online shopping on the 25th and 26th of December has grown strongly, reflecting international trends.

However, online spending on each of these two days is lower than what kiwis typically spend online each day throughout the year. BNZ said "We suspect this is partly because many people’s focus is elsewhere over Christmas, and partly because people are very accustomed to attending Boxing Day sales at physical stores. It will be interesting to see what changes in spending patterns unfold as New Zealanders’ online shopping habits continue to evolve."

Although online spending on Christmas Day is lower than the daily average, it nonetheless accounts for a large share of retail shopping on that day. An extremely rough estimate is that online sales account for over 25% of NZ retail sales on 25 December (across the categories measured). The large online share is not totally surprising, given that most physical stores are closed. It is also interesting that close to 60% of the online shopping on Christmas Day is for purchases at overseas sites.