Christmas Spending: Boxing Day sales start early online as kiwis flock to checkout

A struggling Auckland furniture store is offering everything at half price in a direct sale starting on Boxing Day.

The bargain offering at Nido, one of the largest housing stores in the country, will be just one of hundreds expected across the country as retailers look to cash in on what is traditionally one of the busiest days. expense of the year.

Most of New Zealand’s major retailers have already started their St Stephen’s Day sales, some even breaking new ground on Christmas Eve.

It comes after a record day on Christmas Eve, marking a strong end to what has been a difficult year for retailers.

On Thursday, The Warehouse Group announced that its online sales would begin on Christmas Eve, with Noel Leeming’s website starting at 7.30 p.m. and The Warehouse at 8 p.m.

However, most retailers were delayed until Christmas Day, and other major stores, such as Briscoes, Rebel Sport, Kathmandu, and Farmers, began their online sales today, with physical stores operating tomorrow.

Consumers can expect 10 to 70 percent off the retail price, but generally only on certain items.

At West Auckland’s Nest, which recently went into bankruptcy, customers will find a 50 percent discount on all stock in the store.

Sales come as the latest figures show that year-over-year spending is slightly below, but week after week it is increasing.

At 2:00 p.m. On Christmas Eve, kiwi consumers had spent more than $ 166 million on the boxes since midnight.

The busiest hour of the day at 12.30pm saw a peak of 204 transactions per second, a new record, beating the previous record of 188 transactions per second (the daily average is usually around 60 transactions per second).

Paymark had seen around 3 million transactions processed between midnight and 2 pm on Christmas Eve, and all indications are that the trends will continue with Boxing Day sales.

Spending through Paymark on Boxing Day last year totaled $ 149 million.

Consumer NZ CEO John Duffy said he hadn’t heard of a Boxing Day sale starting on Christmas Eve.

“Traders must be careful not to be misleading in the way they describe sales to avoid a violation of the Fair Trade Act.”

Duffy said there are several things people can do to protect themselves while shopping for products online.

“Know who you are buying from, find a ‘.co.nz’ website if you want to buy locally. It is also worth asking if the product is in stock and the expected delivery time before buying.

“Always pay with a credit and debit card, because if the products do not appear as ordered, you can take them to your bank.”

Product and price comparison site PriceSpy said that 13 percent of the products listed on the site on Boxing Day 2018 were found to have increased in price and that the average discount offered was only 4 percent.