Winter has brought a diverse pattern of spending, Paymark spokesman Paul Brislen said yesterday.
There were treats as people spent more at bakeries and movies. There were necessities as more was spent on electricity and electrical tradies.
And there were more tragedies as more was spent at funeral directors, he said.
In July, the bias was towards spending more on pies as spending among bread and cake retailers increased nearly 11% from last July. At the same time, spending at funeral directors, cemeteries and churches increased only 2.5%.
Releasing the July Paymark figures, Mr Brislen said the wider group of merchants who experienced increased business during June to August included electricity
and gas companies, electricians, movie outlets, parking service providers, dry-cleaners, funeral directors, winter entertainment providers, local government, accountants and lawyers.
Combined, those merchants recorded $277million of spending through Paymark during July, up 10.3% on July last year.
However, a group of sectors experienced their lows during the winter months, he said. Those included accommodation providers, book shops, gyms, garden stores, paint shops, some clothes shops, hardware stores, petrol stations, rental car firms, vineyards and jewellers.
In total, that group of merchants recorded $1.105billion spending through Paymark in July, up 4.5% on July last year.
Across all sectors, the annual underlying growth rate was a moderate 4.8% since July last year, Mr Brislen said.
In total, 107.8million payments were made through Paymark in July, for a total of $5billon.
Unlike consumer and business confidence, spending growth through Paymark did not slow any further in July. The largest regions, Auckland-Northland, Canterbury and Wellington, continued to show the slowest annual growth rates.
Paymark figures showed Otago consumers spent $303.4million in July, up 6.7%. Total transactions reached 6.4million, up 9.6%.
Southlanders spent $111.1million, up 7.9%. Total transactions were 2.32million, up 9.7%. Canterbury shoppers spent $537.8million, up 4.6%. Total transactions grew 5.5% to 11.8million.
