Relief for retailers as Christmas shopping finally takes off with a hiss and a roar.
Paymark figures showed a peak yesterday around midday, with 127 transactions processed per second.
That's expected to go even higher on the traditional busiest day of the year, Christmas Eve.
Retail NZ CEO Mark Johnston says they have an idea of what caused the slow start earlier this month.
He says the bad weather didn't entice people to get out and hit the shops, while in provincial areas there's a lot of economic uncertainty because of plummeting dairy prices.
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