Stats NZ

Electronic card transactions: March 2022

The electronic card transactions (ECT) series cover debit, credit, and charge card transactions with New Zealand-based merchants. The series can be used to indicate changes in consumer spending and economic activity.

Key facts

All figures are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise specified.
Values are at the national level and are not adjusted for price changes.

March month

Changes in the value of electronic card transactions for the March 2022 month (compared with February 2022) were:

  • spending in the retail industries fell 1.3 percent ($77 million)
  • spending in the core retail industries fell 1.4 percent ($72 million).
Created with Highcharts 5.0.14$Retail card spending ($), monthly, March 2020–March 2022ActualsSeasonally adjuMar-20Apr-20May-20Jun-20Jul-20Aug-20Sep-20Oct-20Nov-20Dec-20Jan-21Feb-21Mar-21Apr-21May-21Jun-21Jul-21Aug-21Sep-21Oct-21Nov-21Dec-21Jan-22Feb-22Mar-222B4B6B8BStats NZ

Retail card spending ($), monthly, March 2020–March 2022

Created with Highcharts 5.0.14$Retail card spending ($), monthly, March 2020–March 2022ActualsSeasonally adjuMar-20Apr-20May-20Jun-20Jul-20Aug-20Sep-20Oct-20Nov-20Dec-20Jan-21Feb-21Mar-21Apr-21May-21Jun-21Jul-21Aug-21Sep-21Oct-21Nov-21Dec-21Jan-22Feb-22Mar-222B4B6B8BStats NZ
MonthActualsSeasonally adju
Mar-205,651,491,0005,634,276,000
Apr-202,870,608,0002,965,014,000
May-205,188,203,0005,274,312,000
Jun-205,701,230,0006,083,999,000
Jul-205,968,957,0006,122,188,000
Aug-205,438,997,0005,702,008,000
Sep-205,734,401,0006,089,362,000
Oct-206,250,722,0006,081,686,000
Nov-206,256,029,0006,055,649,000
Dec-207,459,526,0006,025,596,000
Jan-216,005,676,0006,023,760,000
Feb-215,391,444,0005,849,555,000
Mar-215,937,346,0005,889,713,000
Apr-215,989,711,0006,156,432,000
May-216,129,789,0006,259,375,000
Jun-215,930,914,0006,311,454,000
Jul-216,252,189,0006,342,493,000
Aug-214,821,625,0005,104,686,000
Sep-214,878,099,0005,137,776,000
Oct-215,774,430,0005,669,098,000
Nov-216,436,912,0006,218,852,000
Dec-217,770,984,0006,234,329,000
Jan-226,346,436,0006,419,819,000
Feb-225,449,256,0005,919,866,000
Mar-225,910,254,0005,842,830,000

By spending category, the movements were:

  • motor vehicles (excluding fuel), up $5 million (2.7 percent)
  • durables, unchanged (0.0 percent)
  • fuel, down $0.4 million (0.1 percent)
  • consumables, down $78 million (3.3 percent)
  • apparel, down $20 million (6.9 percent).
Created with Highcharts 5.0.14Industry (ANZSIC06)Percentage changeChange in seasonally adjusted card transaction values by industry ($), February 2022–March 2022ConsumablesDurablesApparelMotor Vehicles excl. fuelFuelNon-retail excl. servicesServices-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-10123456789101112131415Stats NZ

Change in seasonally adjusted card transaction values by industry ($), February 2022–March 2022

Created with Highcharts 5.0.14Percentage changeChange in seasonally adjusted card transaction values by industry ($), February 2022–March 2022%ConsumablesDurablesApparelMotor Vehicles excl. fuelFuelNon-retail excl. servicesServices-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-10123456789101112131415Stats NZ
Industry (ANZSIC06)%
Consumables-3.3
Durables0
Apparel-6.9
Motor Vehicles excl. fuel2.7
Fuel-0.1
Non-retail excl. services14.5
Services-5.1

Compared with February 2022, the non-retail (excluding services) category increased by $223 million (14.5 percent). This category includes medical and other health care, travel and tour arrangement, postal and courier delivery, and other non-retail industries.

The services category was down $16 million (5.1 percent). This category includes repair and maintenance and personal care, funeral, and other personal services.

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail) increased by $124 million (1.6 percent) compared with February 2022.

Due to the effects of COVID-19 on tourism, we are unable to release seasonally adjusted figures for the hospitality industry. As such, we are focusing on the actual hospitality values for the March 2022 publication. We will continue to monitor this approach as more data becomes available.

Spending in the hospitality industry fell by $149 million (14.3 percent) between March 2021 and March 2022.

In actual terms, cardholders made 143 million transactions across all industries in March 2022, with an average value of $56 per transaction. The total amount spent using electronic cards was $8.0 billion.

March quarter

Changes in the seasonally adjusted value of retail electronic card transactions for the March 2022 quarter (compared with the December 2021 quarter) were:

  • spending in the retail industries rose $318 million (1.9 percent)
  • spending in the core retail industries rose $150 million (1 percent).

By industry, the movements were:

  • fuel, up $44 million (2.7 percent)
  • durables, up $65 million (1.3 percent)
  • motor vehicles (excluding fuel), down $3 million (0.5 percent)
  • consumables, down $72 million (1 percent)
  • apparel, down $24 million (2.6 percent).

The non-retail (excluding services) category was up $175 million (3.7 percent) and the services category was up $57 million (6.6 percent).

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail) rose by $629 million (2.9 percent) compared with the December 2021 quarter.

Similarly, to the monthly figures above, we are focusing on the actual hospitality values for the March 2022 publication.

Year-on-year, hospitality was down $279 million (8.8 percent) in the March 2022 quarter compared with the March 2021 quarter.

Seasonal adjustment: quality note

COVID-19 has introduced unusual patterns to the monthly and quarterly electronic card transaction series. While the series continue to show irregular spending patterns, we are releasing seasonally adjusted data for March 2022, with the following caveats.

  • We are confident in the seasonal adjustment of the core retail total, total retail, and total card-spending series.
  • We are also confident in the seasonally adjusted figures for the consumables and durables industries for the March 2021–March 2022 months.
  • The March 2020–November 2020 seasonally adjusted monthly data is of lower quality due to the impacts of COVID-19 on the usual seasonal spending patterns. Please use caution when making inferences from this data.
  • The hospitality industry is yet to see a clear seasonal pattern return to it, and so we have decided not to publish either the monthly or quarterly series until we have confidence in the quality of these series. We will continue to monitor this on an ongoing basis.
  • All seasonally adjusted series will continue to be revised each month and will continue to be calculated each month. Due to the effects of COVID-19 on spending, they may change more than they did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

See Impact of COVID-19 on seasonally adjusted and trend series for more information.

Trend series unavailable due to COVID-19

It is not possible to estimate current trend levels to Stats NZ’s usual quality standard until we know the full effect of COVID-19 on the time series. Once the series stabilises, we will estimate the COVID-19 effect on trend. The timeframe for this will vary for different series, depending on how they have been affected by COVID-19.

More data

Use Infoshare to access the electronic card transactions time series:

Subject category: Economic indicators 
Group: Electronic card transactions (ANZSIC06) – ECT

ISSN 1178-0258

Next release date

Electronic card transactions: April 2022 will be released on 10 May 2022.

Related topics
Related releases