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Source: Reuters
Retailers say the next few days are the most critical of the entire year for them.
Retailers Association chief executive John Albertson says a frantic last minute rush is expected over the weekend, and into next week.
Shops are predicting the total Christmas spend-up will come in at a similar level to last year.
Albertson says it's hard to tell what will happen but he suspects a lot of New Zealanders are leaving it until the last minute. He says even if this weekend doesn't quite hit the levels he expects, there are still three days next week for shops to recover.
Albertson says there's a bit more money in households now because of lower interest rates, falling petrol prices and tax cuts. He says from a retailers' perspective the biggest issue is having to discount heavily to entice customers, which won't be doing much for their profit margins.
He expects the retail sector will continue to be fiercely competitive over the next few days.
Bargains snapped up
Meanwhile the latest Eftpos figures show pre-Christmas bargains seem to be doing the trick.
Paymark, the company which keeps track of most electronic transactions, says sales on Friday were up more than three percent on last year.
Spokesman Paul Whiston says given the overall economic climate, the increase is not too shabby. Normally, Christmas sales would be expected to show eight to ten percent growth year-on-year.
But Whiston says because Christmas Day falls after three week days this year, there's a good chance we will see a further increase in spending.
