Many businesses are making the plea for New Zealanders to buy local as the season for last-minute Christmas present shopping gets underway.
The pre-holiday period is often the most important time of year for retailers, but post-pandemic, and in a struggling economy, many shops have battled to stay open.
Retail NZ said most retailers make around two-thirds of their annual profit in this quarter, making it “critical” to get customers through the door now.
“In November, we saw overall spend was 1.6% up on last year, so that’s a pretty good start,” chief executive Carolyn Young said.
“But we’ve heard a soft start to the beginning of December, and customers have been leaving it a little bit later and later to get those Christmas goods.”
Online retailer The Sleepstore said orders were still coming in, but the season had been quieter than in previous years. Owner Louise Tanguay said shoppers were asking about Black Friday deals as early as mid-October.
"So for someone who’s worked in retail their whole career, Christmas has moved to sort of two months earlier than it used to be," she said.
"And so by the time it comes to Christmas at this time of the year, a lot of the Christmas shopping’s already been done and you can no longer rely on full-margin shopping in the frenzy before Christmas."
Retailers were also being forced to adapt and think differently.
After three years in the wine industry, Liz Wheadon opened Normanby Wines seven months ago, offering food, tastings and seating alongside fine wine.
She said the traditional retail model had changed.
“We took the view that having a bottle of wine with a price on a shelf is just not enough.
"We needed to create an experience and a reason for customers to come in to visit us, to enjoy the space and to stay.”
Meanwhile, overseas online platforms like Temu have surged in popularity, but Young warned that low prices often come with risk.
"Here you’ve got the Consumer Guarantees Act, you’ve got the Fair Trading Act, you know that the products meet the health and safety standards. None of that applies when you’re buying offshore," she said.
Buying local also helps the economy, Young added.
Tanguay agreed, noting her family-owned Sleepstore employs 40 people.
“We also support local communities, so retailers are always the first place the community asks for donations and in the last couple of months, we’ve donated over 2500 items to charity,” she said.
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