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New Zealanders ate takeaways for five weeks during the first week of Level 3, according to an ASB economist.
Fast food restaurants across the country were overwhelmed by demand for takeout when the country went from level 4 to level 3 on April 28.
ASB senior economist Jane Turner said it was unprecedented to shut down fast food for a five-week period, generating pent-up consumer demand.
In the first 24 hours of Level 3, McDonald’s sold 300,000 hamburgers and doubled sales on the same day last year.
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“Seeing such a strong pickup in pent-up demand sales indicates some hope for many companies struggling with the devastating impact of staying closed as NZ struggles to phase out COVID-19,” Turner said.
Turner believed that other companies would also benefit from a rebound when the country opened up further.
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Fast food restaurants across the country have reported massive queues across the country during the first week of level 3.
“There will be some companies that will see a similar pattern, I am sure there will be a big queue for hairdressers. They will have to manage six weeks of recovery too. ”
There would be demand for the “amenities” as the country moved to level 2 and level 1, Turner said.
“I think where we won’t necessarily see pent-up demand is for things like new cars and planned renovations, and we’ll see a weaker real estate market if this happens, because people are looking at uncertainty in the longer term.” ”
She expected people to splurge on small items, but large items wouldn’t necessarily see the rebound.
ANZ consumer confidence fell to a new all-time low in April, with confidence below levels seen during the 2008/09 World Financial Crisis.
“In contrast to business confidence, which we expect to begin to improve in May as closing restrictions are eased, the worst may yet to come for consumer confidence,” Turner said.
“What we saw at the GFC is that people’s preferences began to change. People may not go out to dinner because it is quite expensive, but they could spend a little more at home. “
Spending patterns changed during major economic crises and that was expected in the coming months, Turner said.
“The bottom line is that difficult times are still ahead,” he said.
While fast-food restaurants have benefited from the move to Tier 3, other retailers continue to struggle.
New Zealand’s latest retail sales index shows that sales during April fell 79.8 percent from a year earlier.
