Consumer spending was patchy last month, although it was on the positive end of the spectrum.
Paymark, which processes about three-quarters of all electronic transactions, said the value of consumer spending in January rose 7.9 to $4.27 billion, compared with the same month last year.
However, the payments provider said that while spending was up, the trends were mixed, with a hint that some of the momentum could be waning.
Paymark said the food and hospitality sectors were strong but areas such as clothing and department stores and regions such as Wellington and Whanganui are lagging.
Housing-related spending through furniture and homeware shops was strong, up 10 percent year-on-year.
But the annual growth in spending through hardware stores painted a different picture, recording only 4.7 percent growth - well below the sector's average annual growth rate since early 2012 of 9.9 percent.
