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Holiday shoppers are choosing to organize their holidays in unusual ways earlier this year, retailers say.
As shoppers rush to finish last-minute errands, retailers are reporting a strong Christmas business period, though perhaps a bit more organized this year.
With blockades and cargo still in ports, retailers have had to overcome many hurdles this year, but were partially offset by strong retail therapy.
Following retail trends, Guy Hooper, a retail equity analyst at Forsyth Barr, said there was a lot of spending before Christmas this year.
“Given the supply chain concerns, there may be people looking to buy sooner.”
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Nesting has been a big topic in the run-up to Christmas, with furniture, DIY, and renovation items reflecting the booming housing market.
Retailers across the country are reporting strong sales. In bustling Mount Maunganui, Steve Ellingford, manager of the Bayfair Mall, said there was a real sense of celebration in the air.
” October and November have been extraordinary months and December looks the same.
“When it comes to retailers, I would suggest that they will be very happy.”
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Chess sets are expected to be a hot item this Christmas, inspired by the hit show The Queen’s Gambit.
Spending through the Paymark e-card network at 2 pm showed that Kiwi consumers had already spent more than $ 166 million on Christmas Eve.
CEO Maxine Elliott says buyers also set a new transaction record, which peaked today at 204 transactions per second, up from 188 previously.
“Christmas Eve always gives the network a good workout and we work hard to ensure that the retail network is fully operational during the busiest shopping period of the year.”
Kirk Hargreaves / Things
Congestion at ports has made it difficult for retailers to stock all of their regular goods this year.
Trade has also been stable at Warehouse Group, where first-quarter sales were up 6.3% from last year and are up 6.6% to date this year.
CEO Nick Grayston said sales were well above expectations and it was “particularly notable given the negative impact of shipping availability issues beyond our control.”
Stock levels were satisfactory for the summer and back-to-school period, but delivery of some winter products could be affected, it said.
Another trend this year was the shape-shifting of Boxing Day. While The Warehouse will kick off its Boxing Day online sale at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve to fuel consumer desire, Hooper said that Black Friday and Cyber Monday had stolen much of the glory of Boxing Day.
” That has been a trend for the past few years, and it’s [now] a bigger sales period than Boxing Day. ”
Chris McKeen / Stuff
Hundreds of retail workers protest for a living wage, picketing in front of St Lukes’ Countdown, in 2019.
Shoppers also continued to shop digitally. According to Hooper, online sales for the year through October were up 17 percent and now account for 9.5 percent of all sales, up from 8.1 percent last year.
But since the introduction of GST in foreign merchandise late last year, domestic online retailers had taken a significant chunk of that sector.
As for what might be under the tree, their research indicated that selfie lights and microfiber pillows were high on shopping lists this year.
Other gifts likely to be popular with younger people were Disney + subscriptions, stock vouchers and chess boards, popularized by the Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit.
