Boxing Day saw Bay of Plenty locals open their wallets and splurge according to figures released by Paymark today.

Locals made the most of the bargains up for grabs and spent about $10.5 million, which was up by 7.7 per cent on the $9.8m spent in 2013.

Fraser Cove Shopping centre's carpark wasjam packed as shoppers hunted for a Boxing Day bargain yesterday. Photo: Bruce Barnard

Yesterday also saw local shoppers complete 0.19m transactions, increasing by 10 per cent from 0.17m made on Boxing Day last year.

Shopping centres and retailers right around the region were kept busy as savvy locals on the hunt for a bargain made the most of the sales and offers up for grabs yesterday.

Bayfair Shopping Centre duty manager Jonathan Leslie says there was a steady stream of shoppers from 9am.

'We had a very good Boxing Day,” says Jonathan. 'It was busy as usual, but there was a good vibe amongst the shoppers. A lot of smiles on their faces and we had no issues or problems which was fantastic.”

This year's festive season saw a record breaking $404.3m spent through the Paymark network on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.

Boxing Day saw $140.8 million spent across the country, a 4.8 per cent increase in spending through its network, equivalent to an additional $6.4 million in retailers' pockets, when compared to 2013.

On Christmas Eve, $263.5 million was processed nationally, an increase of 10.5 per cent on last year.

For Christmas Eve in the Bay of Plenty for Christmas Eve, a total of $18.5m was spent by shoppers, rising by 7.2 per cent from $17.3m spent at the same time last year.

The number of transactions also increased by 10.2 per cent, rising from 0.32m transactions in 2013 to 0.35m this year.

Christmas Eve saw Kiwis spending up large on clothing, apparel and jewellery, all up by 8.9 per cent on last year.

Department stores were also up by 6.3 per cent, but some of the largest gains were seen in the hospitality sector with 26.7 per cent growth recorded on Christmas Eve.

Paymark's customer relations head manager Mark Spicer says Christmas Eve this year was Paymark's biggest day on record.

'Christmas Eve this year smashed all our records,” says Mark. 'Not only did we see the highest ever spending value through the network, we also saw the highest number of transactions at 4.8 million.”

'During our busiest hour on Christmas Eve, traditionally 12 noon – 1pm, another record was broken when the number of transactions processed per second peaked at 156.”

Mark says this compares to the 148 transactions per second made in 2013.

He adds that food retailers, which includes cafes and restaurants plus liquor merchants, were also strong performers on Christmas Eve with an increase of 13.5 per cent and 11.8 per cent respectively.

'We appear to have dined well on Christmas Eve and then returned for more on Boxing Day,” says Mark.

BOXING DAY KEY NATIONAL STATISTICS, YEAR ON YEAR:

• High growth of 22 per cent was recorded at flooring and furniture stores
• Strong growth at liquor merchants of 23.1 per cent
• Spending at hardware merchants was up 17.7 per cent
• Hospitality sector up 15.3 per cent
• Spending in the food retail sector was up 14.3 per cent
• Department stores were moderate with 5.0 per cent growth
• Clothing, apparel and jewellery stores were slower with 0.8% growth