• Spend dropped -2.0% and Transactions dropped -0.5% when compared to July 2023.
• Fuel & Automotive was the only storetype to see spend rise, up 7.7%.
• Domestic tourism dropped across all NZ regions despite the July school holidays.
• Compared to July 2019 (pre-pandemic), spend was up 17.4%.

July 2024 continues the recent trend of a reduction in consumer spending when compared to the same time last year, down -2.0%. OCR rates may have been cut by 25 basis points, the first cut in four years; food prices may have dropped by 0.3% in the 12 months to June 2024, the first annual decrease in nearly 6 years; and annual inflation has fallen to 3.3%, the lowest level in 3 years. Yet we are still feeling the pressures in the cost of living, and it shows. Admittedly, some of these economic glimmers of hope are recent, and may not have filtered into consumers’ spending habits just yet. We will be eagerly watching to see what transpires over the coming weeks.

This month, spend was down across most of New Zealand. The regions bucking the trend were West Coast (3.1%); Gisborne (2.2%), Southland (1.5%), Northland (0.6%) and Tasman (0.1%). Despite the school holidays featuring in July, domestic tourism was down across all regions in July.

Fuel & Automotive was the only storetype that saw spend increase, up 7.7% (see chart below). The Auckland regional fuel tax of 10 centres per litre plus GST was removed on 30 June 2024, and petrol and diesel prices fell 0.5% and 0.2% respectively. Despite this, fuel & automotive spending in Auckland still rose 5.9%, while transactions rose 4.0% suggesting that motorists took the opportunity to make use of this and fill up once the price dropped.