Covid-19 restrictions may have eased, but New Zealanders continue to shop online, with the NZ Post reporting a further increase in spending.
According to its latest Spotlight report on e-commerce, online purchases for the first quarter of 2022 increased by 31% compared to the previous year, and by 86% over the same quarter in 2020, before the introduction of the first restrictions. Covid-19.
NZ Post managing director of trade marketing Chris Wong said Covid-19 had changed the way New Zealanders shop, for good.
“New Zealanders spent more than $2.2 billion online on physical goods in the first quarter of 2022, completing almost 17 million online transactions and spending around $131 per transaction,” he said. he declares.
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“This is the second largest quarter for online shopping in terms of total spending in New Zealand, second only to the busy Christmas shopping season late last year.”
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New Zealanders spent more than $2.2 billion online on physical goods in the first quarter of 2022. (File photo)
The Omicron outbreak was a big factor in consumer shopping in the first quarter of this year, with more people at home, sick or in isolation, Wong said.
However, while online shopping for the quarter as a whole was up, the number of shoppers declined during the quarter as month over month fewer people were shopping online.
“While in January there were nearly 2.2 million online shoppers, that figure dropped to 1.98 million in February and then another 200,000 in March,” Wong said.
“The slight decline throughout the quarter could be due to a number of factors, including the rising cost of living for New Zealanders.”
Continued disruptions to global supply chains meant New Zealanders continued to prioritize buying local products and 77% of spending last quarter was with New Zealand businesses.
As part of a ten-year plan to invest in parcel processing infrastructure and technology, NZ Post is upgrading its Christchurch processing center and will open a ‘super depot’ in Wellington later this year.
Together, the projects will double its parcel handling capacity.
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