24 Dec 2010

Last-minute spending by shoppers sluggish

5:22 pm on 24 December 2010

Last-minute Christmas shoppers have failed to beat the previous year's eftpos record, figures show.

In the busiest hour between midday and 1pm on Friday, Paymark, which handles three-quarters of the country's electronic transactions, processed 129 transactions a second, slightly down on last year's 131.

Paymark chief executive Simon Tong says spending has been sluggish.

Mr Tong says last year's Christmas Eve spending was worth $216 million. As of 1pm, shoppers had spent $120 million.

This year's total figures will be known on Saturday.