The stormy weather events that occurred across New Zealand in January led to a drop in consumer spending in several regions at those times.

It also may have dampened spending more generally over the month - but a weakening pattern suggests wider economic factors are also at play, according to data released by Worldline NZ this week.

Consumer spending data recorded in January 2023 through Core Retail merchants in Worldline NZ's payments network (excluding Hospitality) reached $3.04B, which is down just 0.7 per cent on January 2022 but up 15.9 per cent on January 2019.

Worldline NZ's chief sales officer, Bruce Proffit, says consumer spending patterns were generally weak over the full month of January 2023, with annual spending growth up (+1.6 per cent) in the first seven days and down (-0.7 per cent) in the last seven days of the month.

"While spending was higher in the first week of January compared to the same week last year, this was not consistent across all regions - and notably, the mixed regional pattern that persisted into the last week of January showed a drop in the three largest regions.

"The stormy weather that occurred at each end of the month - cyclone Hale and then the deluges across the upper North Island and especially in Auckland - is undoubtedly one factor, but the general nature of the dampened spending also suggests a trend towards wider restraint by consumers," says Proffit.

The monthly regional figures show annual spending declines were highest - in percentage terms - in Bay of Plenty (-4.2%), Wairarapa (-3.6%), Gisborne (-3.4%) and Wellington (-3.2%). Spending growth was highest in Otago (+8.2%), Southland (+6.9%) and West Coast (+6.7%).

The direct consumer spending effects of the two major storms in January - cyclone Hale on January 10-11 and the record-breaking rainfall event on January 27 in the upper North Island - were most noticeable in Gisborne and Auckland / Northland respectively.

Spending in Gisborne on Wednesday, January 11, ($0.8 million) was down 16.3 per cent on Wednesday, January 12, 2022.

This decline was apparent for three days, with Tuesday to Thursday spending ($2.5m) down 13.5 per cent on 2022 in that region.

Spending in Auckland / Northland on Friday, January 27, ($33.9 million) was down 20.5 per cent on Friday, January 28, 2022, but was back to near or above 2022 levels over the remaining days of the month.

The Hospitality spending effect of the wet weather has been longer lasting in Auckland/Northland. Annual Hospitality spending growth in Auckland/Northland went from averaging 22 per cent growth in the seven days before Friday, January 27, (daily average $12.8m) to averaging 10 per cent growth since that day (daily average $11.3m).