24 Dec 2021

Christmas Eve still busiest shopping day of the year - Worldline

5:30 pm on 24 December 2021

Christmas Eve has held its spot for being the busiest shopping day of the year.

Woman is going to use contactless means of payment in supermarket. Close up of female hands holding necessary cash equipment

File image. Photo: 123RF

Figures from payments services company Worldline show that the during the peak hour of spending today, which was between noon and 1pm, nearly 661,000 transactions were made.

In the peak minute of spending at 12.13pm, more than 11,000 transactions were made and during the peak second, a few minutes before that, 193 transactions were made.

Worldline head of data George Putnam said although those numbers were slightly lower than last year, overall, retail shoppers had spent more this year.

"At the beginning of this week, with five days of pre-Christmas trading left, Worldline data showed that spending levels at core retail stores were trending well above levels at the same time last year," Putnam said.

"We will have a full breakdown of the numbers for the last full week of core retail selling prior to Christmas on the Monday after Boxing Day, but at this stage it looks like 2021 remains on track to see a new record spend for pre-Christmas shopping in New Zealand."