Online spending is going from strength to strength.
The latest BNZ Marketview survey reports total online retail spending in October was 14 percent higher than at the same time a year ago.
To put that figure in perspective, Statistics New Zealand's latest figures show total retail spending in New Zealand rose only 4.7 percent in the September quarter from the same time a year ago.
BNZ Marketview's report shows spending at offshore websites rose by 17 percent in October from the same time a year ago. Spending at New Zealand sites increased by 11 percent.
More than half of the increase in spending in October came from clothing, food and computer websites.
Total online spending for the 12 months to the end of October was $3.6 billion, excluding GST.
BNZ Marketview says that is 7.2 percent of the total retail spending (based on Statistics New Zealand figures). Total retail spending over 12 months (in stores and online) was around $49 billion in the categories that BNZ Marketview monitors.
The report estimates that if grocery and liquor sales were removed from the calculations, then online shopping would have made up about 10.5 percent of total retail sales.
October was the first month of the 'Netflix tax', which added GST to online purchases made at offshore sites. BNZ Marketview says that so far, it does not look like there is any obvious volume impact on spending from the new tax.
Newshub.