Black Friday was the second busiest shopping day of the year, according to spending figures from Paymark.
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Overall spending totalled $253 million, which wasn't enough to surpass the day before Good Friday.
But Paymark said for many in retail, it was their busiest day.
Merchants in the core retail group, excluding food and hospitality, processed payments for $71.4 million worth of goods, up 22.5 percent on Black Friday 2018 and surpassing Boxing Day last year, which netted $63.8 million.
Department stores, clothing shops, furniture outlets, sports equipment retailers and toy and game shops experienced growth of over 60 percent.
Over the three days of the extended shopping weekend - and with Cyber Monday still underway - the total value of transactions through Paymark totalled $652 million, up 12.8 percent in underlying terms from the Black Friday three-day weekend last year, Paymark said.
Besides strong sales-driven Black Friday activity in shops, there were also strong increases in spending through supermarkets, hairdressers and internet service providers.
The spending growth was strongest in Wellington and Bay of Plenty, although the largest increase in dollar terms was in Auckland and Northland, which was up $30.5 million.