Cashless retail spending increased by 1.3 per cent in May, according to Statistics New Zealand.

A total of 121 million electronic card transactions were processed across all industries, with an average spend of $51. The total amount across all transactions was $6.2 billlion.

Statistics New Zealand, business indicators manager, Neil Kelly, said “Spending rose in all six retail industries during May, the first time this has occurred since October 2013”.

Fuel and consumables had the largest rises of the retail industries. Spending on fuel was up 2.8 per cent ($21 million), while consumables spending increased 1.1 per cent ($18 million).

Core retail spending, excluding vehicle related industries rose 1 per cent.

Trends for the total, retail, and core retail series have all generally been increasing since October 2002.