New Zealanders’ online spending was up just 2.8% over the same month last year. While still an increase, it is the lowest monthly growth rate since February this year...
which was incidentally the last full month before Level 4 Lockdown in March. It is also interesting to see the growth at physical retailers this month (+9.9%) outpace online spending. That hasn’t often been the case over the last couple of years. That said, online spending is still solid, with the domestic online offering up 16.2% compared to July 2019.
When comparing July 2020 to June 2020, online spending was down 7.3%. This is the second consecutive month where spend online has shown a decrease when compared to the previous month. In a way it's not too surprising given the heights of online spending in Lockdown.
As we now learn of another round of Lockdown, it will be interesting to monitor the shifts in online behaviour. New Zealanders look to have been out there supporting their local retail over the last couple of months with great fervour. But knowing how useful online shopping was during the original Lockdown period, it would seem sensible to expect another wave of much increased online activity.
