Kiwis nesting in January boost sales of furniture, electronics, and hardware

Sales of furniture, electronics, and hardware held up in January 2021, while spending on hotels and motels remain lower than this time last year, Stats NZ said today.

Electronic card spending on the furniture, electrical, and hardware sub-industry was up $104 million (17 percent) in January, compared with the same month in 2020.

"Following the COVID-19 national lockdown in 2020, spending on furniture, electrical, and hardware has been higher than in previous years," business insights manager Sue Chapman said.

"This may reflect people nesting at home because they are unable spend on overseas travel."

The furniture, electrical, and hardware sector was the key driver in the increase in sales for the wider long-lasting products or durables group.

Spending on long-lasting goods rose $34 million (2.1 percent) over the month of January, compared with December when adjusted for seasonal effects. Similarly, spending in actual terms was up $115 million (8.0 percent) in January 2021, when compared to the same month last year.

Hospitality sales hitting hurdles

In actual terms, the hospitality industry saw the largest fall in card spending of the retail industries, down $60 million (4.9 percent) in January 2021, when compared with January 2020.

"The lack of international tourism is still hitting spending at hotels and motels, but spending is up slightly for eating out," Ms Chapman said.

Card sales for accommodation services were down $81 million (29 percent) compared with January 2020. This was partially offset by food and beverage services, which rose $22 million (2.3 percent) from January 2020.

"Kiwis were out and about, visiting restaurants and bars for holidays in January. However, the lack of international visitors is still hampering sectors that are reliant on this spending, including spending in hotels, motels, and short-stay accommodation," Ms Chapman said.

Total card spending flat in January

When adjusted for seasonal effects, retail card spending in January 2021 fell 0.4 percent to just under $6 billion from December 2020, Stats NZ said today.

"The actual level of card spending showed the typical seasonal peak for the Christmas shopping period in December. However, spending in January was flat after adjusting for seasonal effects," Ms Chapman said.

We are now able to release seasonally adjusted card transaction data for January 2021, due to a clearer seasonal pattern apparent in the data. Note that the data is more volatile from the March 2020 to November 2020 period, due to COVID-19 alert level changes and their impacts on electronic card spending. Use caution when making inferences from the seasonally adjusted data.

See Electronic card transactions: January 2021 for a more detailed quality note and data.