With one week to go, New Zealanders are flocking to the shops to buy the last - or in some cases all - of the gifts on their list.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
It's been an exceptionally hectic time for those in retail according to Taylor Coleman from the Surf Shop North Beach in Auckland.
"Busy, like real busy ... it definitely picks up, yeah, like during the week it gets hectic," he said.
"People are just wanting things, you know they're in a rush as well, they want to get all their Christmas shopping done, so yeah, it does get quite busy."
One of those shoppers was Bryony Harrison who said she hasn't yet started.
"So I'm slightly stressed," she said.
Ms Harrison still had to buy for her parents, sister, Grandma and cousin.
But, she said leaving things until the last minute wasn't such a bad thing.
"I've sort of put quite a lot of thought into my presents this year to make them really good," she said.
"So I'm doing sort of personalised gifts."
Another shopper who had only just started buying gifts was Richard.
But he wasn't going in blind.
"I have a pretty good idea about exactly what I want to get, so I'll just go out, go to the shops I need to go to and get out as fast as I can."
Margaret on the other hand had enjoyed her shopping experience.
She said everything was under control.
"I tend to go to the outlet stores where it's a bit more quieter and not so many people," she said.
"I'm actually going more into scented candles and nice body washes, because it's so hot."
Paymark, the company that runs EFTPOS, said there had been an increase in spending this Christmas period, with food and retail merchants seeing marked growth.
Last Saturday the retail sector had a 5.5 percent increase in spending compared with the same day last year.
And with just six days until Christmas Eve - those spending figures may continue to rise.
