Online spending eases in June

The growth rate for New Zealanders’ total online retail shopping eased back slightly in June, but spending was still up 10 per cent compared to June last year.

According to the latest BNZ and Marketview monthly report on New Zealand’s online retail sales, purchases from offshore online retailers accounted for 44.5 per cent of the month’s online spending, and spending at these retailers was up 13 per cent on June 2016.

A surge in spending on Computers and Electronics drove half of the increase.

Clothing had a quieter month than usual, with purchases from offshore online retailers only up  per cent on June last year.

Spending at local online retailers was up 9 per cent on June last year.

“While slower than the double-digit growth rates we’ve generally been seeing since 2016, this level of growth is still more than double that of local bricks-and-mortar stores, which were only up 4 per cent on June last year,” said Gary Baker, director, institutional research, Bank of New Zealand.

Food store-types drove approximately half of the growth at local online sites (June 2017 vs June 2016).

Clothing purchases were also strong at local online merchants, up 16 per cent on last June.