Online retail sales for the three months ended in November point to strong international sales, while domestic sales were sluggish leading into December.
The Bank of New Zealand's latest survey showed total online spending in November rose just 5 percent over the same month last year, following a surge in sales during October.
BNZ's institutional research director Gary Baker said the sales were distorted by the early release of Apple products in September.
When the September, October and November online international sales were grouped together, he said they represented a strong rise from the the year earlier.
International online sales rose 18 percent over those three months, compared with the same period a year earlier.
There was a 2 percent rise in domestic online sales in November, but Mr Baker said there were a number of anecdotal stories from retailers to indicate that December sales have picked up.