By Rebecca Wright
Retail, one of the sectors hit hardest in the recession, is beginning to show signs of life again.
Retail sales figures that are about to be released for August, show New Zealand spending is up for the second month in a row.
Paul Whiston of eftpos providers Paymark says Auckland’s shopping mecca High Street is once again showing favourable signs.
“At the start of 2009 we saw some dramatic fall off particularly in some of the High Street retail sectors,” he says.
“In the last two months we've seen that bottom out to almost zero now, a slight improvement in growth so people appear to be out there shopping and spending a little bit more than they were at the beginning of the year.”
Mr Paymark says not only are there changes in spending but also the type of spending.
“What we've seen change is that people are now starting to spend more on entertainment and leisure - going out for dinner - and now we're beginning to see some increase and improvement on the retail sector,” he says.
Playstation 3 was released on Thursday and the console has been selling out in shops at a price of $600.
Aaron Scott of NZGamer.com says people are spending a lot more money on entertainment.
“The typical age of people that play games now is 18 – 35, so a lot of those people aren't buying houses at the moment, so they've got a lot of disposable income,” he says.
Serious discounts and sales are also acting as a strong incentive for shoppers to start parting with their cash.
While July and August have shown improvement in consumer spending, official figures are measured in quarters - meaning it will be another month before the increase can be called a trend.
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