For the first time in 12 months, New Zealanders increased their spending in all industry groups, according to January Electronic Card Transaction data released by Statistics New Zealand today.

The total value of electronic card transactions was up 1.0 percent in January 2012, when adjusted for seasonal effects. This follows small decreases of 0.1 percent in December and 0.3 percent in November.

"This was the first month since January 2011 that spending increased in all industry groups," industry and labour statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said.

The value of transactions in core retail (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) was up 1.0 percent in January 2012. This increase was led by the consumables (up 0.5 percent) and apparel (up 2.1 percent) industries.

The value of transactions across all retail industries, which include the two vehicle-related industries, was up 1.2 percent in January 2012.

The two industries that fall outside retail also rose:

- services up 1.2 percent

- non-retail up 1.1 percent.

Trends for the total and retail series continue to increase, although the rate of growth has slowed in recent months. By contrast, the core retail trend, which has generally been increasing since the series began in October 2002, has flattened in recent months.