New record amid surge in last-minute holiday shopping

An increase in last-minute holiday purchases has resulted in a new record for the most transactions per second that Paymark has processed.

Final sales figures for the day have yet to be compiled, but Paymark, which processes the majority of New Zealand Eftpos payments, reported that by 2pm, Kiwi consumers had already spent more than $ 166 million.

The busiest time of the day is probably 12.30pm when a peak of 204 transactions per second was processed.

The previous record was 188 transactions per second. The daily average is usually around 60 transactions per second.

“Christmas Eve always gives the network a good workout and we work hard to ensure the retail network is fully operational,” said Paymark CEO Maxine Elliott.

As of 2:00 p.m., about 3 million transactions had been processed through the network since midnight.

“The Paymark team is extremely aware of the importance of the holiday season for retailers, particularly given the troubles of 2020,” said Elliott.