Christmas Eve is always the busiest shopping day of the year in New Zealand, and this year has proven to be no different with a new record being set.
Paymark chief executive Mark Rushworth said as of 1pm today, shoppers had put more than $147 million through the tills. The busiest time of day was 12.21pm, when there was a peak of 157.46 transactions a second, up slightly from last year's peak of 156.13 transactions a second.
"Each year Christmas Eve really gives us a good workout. Throughout the year we typically see 50 to 60 transactions per second and during December we saw that average figure creep up into the 115 - 120 range, but this is a new record for us."
The transactions equated to a spend of more than $1.47 million between midnight to 1pm on Christmas Eve. At its peak, Paymark handled more than half a million transactions an hour.
December 23 was also a "smash hit" shopping day, beating last year's Christmas Eve in terms of dollars processed through Paymark's network.
"Having two such days in a row says the final figures for the Christmas season will be very strong indeed."
Paymark's network processes Eftpos transactions for more than 75% of New Zealand's retailers.
