Last-minute Christmas shoppers have set a new record in New Zealand for the most card purchases per second.
According to Paymark, at 12:21pm today, there were 157 transactions a second - beating last year's Christmas Eve record by just one.
The company, which processes Eftpos for more than 75 percent of retailers in New Zealand, said there were typically 50 to 60 transactions a second.
As of 1pm, Paymark had processed $147 million through card sales today.
Retail NZ general manager of public affairs Greg Harford said despite a sluggish start, December had gained pace.
"It started out a bit slow, perhaps, at the start of December, but things have certainly picked up. We know for the first two weeks of December spending was up a little over 7 percent compared to last year and that only seems to have picked up as the month has worn on."