New Zealand’s apparel retailers head into the key Christmas trading period on the back foot, after card spending on clothing and footwear fell 5.2 per cent year-on-year in September.
Stats NZ’s latest Electronic Card Transactions data showed Kiwis spent NZ$277 million on apparel during the month, down from NZ$292 million a year earlier. It was the category’s lowest monthly figure in at least two years.
The fall followed a 4.6 per cent year-on-year drop in August. On a seasonally adjusted basis, apparel spending fell 2 per cent month-on-month in September, after a 2 per cent fall the month before.
The quarterly figures show the same pattern. Apparel spending for the September quarter fell 2.4 per cent year-on-year to $868 million. That was the 13th consecutive quarter of annual decline for the category, and its weakest September quarter since the 2021 Delta lockdown.
Stats NZ’s trend series, which smooths out short-term swings, has pointed down every month since December.
Apparel lagged the wider market. Core retail spending rose 1.2 per cent across the quarter, and apparel’s share of core retail card spend slipped to 4.8 per cent, down from 5.9 per cent in the September quarter of 2022.
Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said the latest numbers showed most New Zealanders were spending only on what they needed.
“Apparel spending fell a huge 5.2 per cent while hospitality was down 4.4 per cent, which tells us Kiwis are not making those discretionary purchases,” Young said.
“It has been an extremely tough couple of years for the sector.”
Across all core retail industries, September spending rose just 0.1 per cent year-on-year. Consumables, which cover food and alcohol, rose 3 per cent and durables lifted 0.3 per cent. Once fuel and vehicles were included, total retail rose 0.9 per cent, mostly because fuel spending jumped 11.1 per cent.
Young said rising fuel, power and insurance costs were squeezing household budgets and also pushing up retailers’ overheads and cutting into margins. Retail NZ put inflation at 4.1 per cent, which means retailers are falling behind in real terms.
She added that cost-of-living concerns were likely being compounded by uncertainty ahead of the election.
Last year’s Christmas period did little to help the category. Apparel card spending in the December 2025 quarter fell 1.6 per cent year-on-year to $1.22 billion, its third consecutive December quarter decline.
“Retailers will be hoping that Kiwis will spend big in the Christmas quarter,” Young said.