Nelson booked a 8.3% gain, from $95.9 million spending a year ago to $103.9 million, against Otago's 8.2% gain, from $249.3 million to $269.8 million, according to Paymark, which processes more than 75% of electronic transactions each month.
However, Auckland-Northland booked a 6.7% gain, overshadowing Otago and Nelson's spending, rising from $1.63 billion last year to $1.74 billion for January.
Spending in January totalled $4.5 billion, up 5.5%, or about $235 million on the previous year.
Paymark's head of customer relations Mark Spicer said even with low fuel prices pulling the growth rate down, it was ''a good solid start to the year''.
''The increase in the value and volume of transactions in January are good indicators that we can expect continued growth during 2015,'' he said.
Transactions recorded last month nationally were also strong with a marked 9.7% increase, from 86.1 million to 95.54 million.
Otago transactions rose from 2 million a year ago to 2.06 million.
Three sectors booked growth in January of more than 11% - accommodation, food and beverage services including cafes, restaurants and bars, and hardware, building and garden suppliers.
Supermarkets and grocery stores booked 10.3% growth, while spending on clothing, footwear and personal accessories was up 3.4%.
January figures showed credit card usage was up 18.4% on January 2014 and remained higher than the debit card growth of 6.6%.
