The electronic card transactions (ECT) series cover debit, credit, and charge card transactions with New Zealand-based merchants. The series can be used to indicate changes in consumer spending and economic activity.
Key facts
All figures are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise specified.
Values are at the national level and are not adjusted for price changes.
March 2025 month
Changes in the value of electronic card transactions for the March 2025 month (compared with February 2025) were:
- spending in the retail industries decreased 0.8 percent ($52 million)
- spending in the core retail industries decreased 0.8 percent ($46 million).
| Month | Actual | Seasonally adjusted | Trend |
| Mar-22 | 5910254000 | 5842359000 | 6297743000 |
| Apr-22 | 6113927000 | 6253158000 | 6311081000 |
| May-22 | 6171502000 | 6386635000 | 6337520000 |
| Jun-22 | 6042842000 | 6390260000 | 6380060000 |
| Jul-22 | 6221006000 | 6401033000 | 6433437000 |
| Aug-22 | 6116981000 | 6454223000 | 6485936000 |
| Sep-22 | 6270883000 | 6565038000 | 6526019000 |
| Oct-22 | 6734272000 | 6657938000 | 6552632000 |
| Nov-22 | 6895341000 | 6578920000 | 6572373000 |
| Dec-22 | 8146272000 | 6542288000 | 6589453000 |
| Jan-23 | 6515834000 | 6561634000 | 6605726000 |
| Feb-23 | 6085125000 | 6614586000 | 6623453000 |
| Mar-23 | 6824429000 | 6702492000 | 6642732000 |
| Apr-23 | 6502381000 | 6701511000 | 6660180000 |
| May-23 | 6389119000 | 6601535000 | 6667727000 |
| Jun-23 | 6341161000 | 6678396000 | 6665663000 |
| Jul-23 | 6395060000 | 6642911000 | 6657364000 |
| Aug-23 | 6372791000 | 6680944000 | 6648551000 |
| Sep-23 | 6370078000 | 6643042000 | 6641317000 |
| Oct-23 | 6596333000 | 6583653000 | 6633595000 |
| Nov-23 | 7037830000 | 6670066000 | 6622941000 |
| Dec-23 | 8100650000 | 6565586000 | 6609004000 |
| Jan-24 | 6617940000 | 6627423000 | 6590518000 |
| Feb-24 | 6282994000 | 6560378000 | 6562520000 |
| Mar-24 | 6667122000 | 6531884000 | 6525212000 |
| Apr-24 | 6258117000 | 6500671000 | 6481469000 |
| May-24 | 6286155000 | 6426443000 | 6439988000 |
| Jun-24 | 6033039000 | 6386249000 | 6408920000 |
| Jul-24 | 6084715000 | 6381816000 | 6392344000 |
| Aug-24 | 6187969000 | 6397111000 | 6393249000 |
| Sep-24 | 6016467000 | 6400680000 | 6408617000 |
| Oct-24 | 6520491000 | 6443677000 | 6432706000 |
| Nov-24 | 6876962000 | 6451771000 | 6457126000 |
| Dec-24 | 8020248000 | 6606886000 | 6476476000 |
| Jan-25 | 6585289000 | 6499212000 | 6489256000 |
| Feb-25 | 6016043000 | 6518621000 | 6496673000 |
| Mar-25 | 6559935000 | 6466234000 | 6501103000 |
By retail spending category, movements were:
- durables, down $39 million (2.5 percent)
- hospitality, down $14 million (1.1 percent)
- fuel, down $12 million (2.3 percent)
- apparel, down $6.9 million (2.1 percent)
- motor vehicles (excluding fuel), up $4.0 million (2.1 percent)
- consumables, up $9.5 million (0.4 percent).
| Industry (ANZSIC06) | Percentage change |
| Consumables | 0.4 |
| Durables | -2.5 |
| Hospitality | -1.1 |
| Apparel | -2.1 |
| Motor vehicles excl. fuel | 2.1 |
| Fuel | -2.3 |
| Non-retail excl. services | -3.3 |
| Services | 0.3 |
Note, the seasonally adjusted series are adjusted independently of each other, therefore, the sum of the component categories may differ to the total.
The non-retail (excluding services) category decreased by $76 million (3.3 percent) from February 2025. This category includes medical and other health care, travel and tour arrangement, postal and courier delivery, and other non-retail industries.
The services category was up $1.0 million (0.3 percent). This category includes repair and maintenance, and personal care, funeral, and other personal services.
The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail), decreased from February 2025, down $137 million (1.5 percent).
In actual terms, cardholders made 169 million transactions across all industries in March 2025, with an average value of $54 per transaction. The total amount spent using electronic cards was $9.2 billion.
March 2025 quarter
Changes in the seasonally adjusted value of retail electronic card transactions for the March 2025 quarter (compared with the December 2024 quarter) were:
- spending in the retail industries increased $131 million (0.7 percent)
- spending in the core retail industries increased $74 million (0.4 percent).
By spending category, the movements were:
- consumables, up $65 million (0.8 percent)
- fuel, up $20 million (1.3 percent)
- motor vehicles (excluding fuel), up $9.0 million (1.6 percent)
- apparel, down $0.7 million (0.1 percent)
- hospitality, down $18 million (0.5 percent)
- durables, down $118 million (2.5 percent).
The non-retail (excluding services) category was down $44 million (0.6 percent) and the services category was up $21 million (1.9 percent).
The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail) increased by $23 million (0.1 percent) compared with the December 2024 quarter.
Data quality
Since the June 2024 month there has been a change in the industry classifications for some of the electronic card transactions data provided to Stats NZ. As more data becomes available, we will advise on how we integrate industry classification changes into our time series. In the interim, we have imputed some data to ensure consistency of industry-level time series.
In March 2025, the decrease in the non-retail series was influenced by payment processing changes, which resulted in some previously included data not being captured.
More data
Use Infoshare to access the electronic card transactions time series:
Subject category: Economic indicators
Group: Electronic card transactions (ANZSIC06) - ECT
Definitions and metadata
Electronic card transactions data collection methodology - DataInfo+ gives general methodology used to produce electronic card transaction statistics.
Electronic card transactions concepts - DataInfo+ gives definitions of terms used in this release.
Technical enquiries
Yvonne Fakahau
04 931 4600
[email protected]
ISSN 1178-0258
Next release
Electronic card transactions: April 2025 will be released on 14 May 2025.
