Online shopping in New Zealand last Christmas season was big news. According to the New Zealand Herald, Kiwis have spent over $170 million more than what they did last year. Retail traders are anticipating that the shopping hype will carry on until the holidays are over.
For many retailers, Christmas day is becoming the busiest online shopping day rather than the usual Boxing Day with the year round accessibility of online stores allowing ongoing customer access, as well as early Boxing Day bargains.
The introduction of revised shopping applications for both Android and iOS also played a big role in the increase of online spending during the holidays. Figures from electronic payment provider Paymark show that the spending for the first 22 days of December is up by 4.6 percent* as compared to what it was last year.
There is no doubt that New Zealanders are embracing the convenience of online shopping and they have proven that last Christmas. The data from Paymark also shows that the number of transactions for the same period in 2014 is up by about five million.
Kiwis have indeed done more Christmas shopping online last 2014 with the strongest spending taking place in Auckland, Northland, the Bay of Plenty, Nelson and Otago according to the New Zealand Herald. The biggest spending was for watches and jewellery, health and beauty products, books, videos, music and photographic sectors as stated by Mark Johnston, Retail NZ chief executive.
If you are an online retailer, now is a great time to review your businesses online presense to ensure you are capitalising on the growing online market.
Contact Zyber for a free E-Commerce consultation with one of our website experts!
*Source: New Zealand Herald