Photo: RNZ/ Marika Khabazi
Friday was the busiest shopping day of the year, with transactions reaching nearly 651,000 in an hour.
According to Worldline data, they reached 192 per second at its peak on 23 December.
The all-time record of 204 transactions per second was reached in 2020.
Christmas shopping spending up despite calls to cut back
Worldline's chief sales officer, Bruce Proffit, said while peak-hour transactions are down, the full week's data will likely show shoppers spending more this year than ever.
Last week, retail shoppers spent $881 million.
This comes despite the Reserve Bank warning shoppers to ease up on spending, in an effort to lower inflation.