Will this holiday season be the ‘Season of Spending”?

New Zealand; As the festive season is fast approaching, oOh!media New Zealand is gearing up for yet another strong and successful holiday period across Aotearoa. Although New Zealand is coming off the back of yet another tough economic year, Kiwis are still set to spend during the holiday season this year.

This summer period, consumers are set to conduct their shopping both in-store and online, using a combination of both to ‘window shop/ browse’ before choosing their preferred channel to buy through, with 87% of spending this summer likely to be in store, according to Datamine Retailwatch (Datamine Retailwatch).

Despite a forecasted spending drop due to inflation and the cost-of-living crisis the country is currently enduring, Kiwis spent nearing $3billionNZD in the month of September 2022, and an overall spend of $13.7billionNZD for Q3 2022, which is up 15% compared to Q3 2021, and 16% up on pre-pandemic Q3 2019. (The Register, Worldline Eftpos Data).

Sharmain White, Kiwi Property Senior Leasing Manager says, “Kiwis are clearly loving the freedom of being able to get out and about, and enjoying the experience of physically going into retail stores. With customer numbers now back to pre-pandemic levels at centres like Sylvia Park, we’re looking forward to welcoming shoppers from around the country and delivering a strong trading performance through the Christmas and New Year period.”

oOh!media NZ Head of Sales, Ben Gibb says; “Typically we see retail and recreation footfall start to rise significantly around Black Friday, 25 November, which really kicks off the surge of holiday shopping. Retail partners report that there is a 50% uplift in footfall in December and a 40% increase in spend.”

He adds, “Retail environments offer advertisers a unique opportunity to influence consumers enmasse when they are in a receptive frame of mind and have the time to absorb messages. Retail provides a 100% walk by, sit by, stand by audience meaning higher audience dwell time combined with the benefit of video capable small and large formats to maximise impact. With oOh!’s unparalleled portfolio of classic, digital and large format Retail assets reaching 2.5 million (Nielsen CMI) Kiwis a month across 55 shopping centres nationwide, we enable brands to get messages in front of consumers when they are most receptive and closest to the point of purchase.”