The pay packets offered to retail workers jumped almost 10 per cent last year, according to a major jobs website, in another sign of improving fortune for the sector.

So-called "showrooming" and "click and collect" will be two major retail trends in 2014, according to an industry commentator.

Retailers are "over the moon" at record Boxing Day sales on Thursday.

Eftpos transactions reached record highs today as Kiwi shoppers, filled with "Christmas spirit'', packed out stores around the country.

Today's final rush to complete pre-Christmas shopping will also complete a highly successful period for retailers.

Paymark figures show shoppers spending up large as malls brace for last-minute Christmas splurge.

December has so far seen spending growth unseen for several years, Paymark says.

People will be heading for the great outdoors to try out their presents this Christmas, if Trade Me searches are any indication.

Businesses are smiling, frazzled customers are queuing and there are still nine more days of shopping to go.

Amidst a tough retail environment, Kathmandu chief executive Peter Halkett has led the company through a solid year of growth.

Retail spending went from strength to strengthen last month as the plastic got more of a workout.

Baaa-humbug. A fall in lamb numbers because of the worst drought in 70 years may result in higher prices for this year's Christmas roast.

Di Humphries is the fresh face in charge of children's clothing retailer Pumpkin Patch.

New Zealanders have been spending up on food and liquor in the lead up to Christmas, according to Paymark, which says spending through its network during the first seven days of December was up almost nine per cent on the same week the year before.

Shoppers descended on malls all over the country yesterday as the Christmas rush began.

Countdown has been ordered to withdraw advertisements for a "one-day sale'' that ran online for 21 hours over two days.

As the United States prepares for its annual Cyber Monday online shopping bonanza.

Wal-Mart Stores is ushering in a changing of the guard as the world's largest retailer confronts slower growth and challenges to its reputation.

Click Monday - the local version of the Northern Hemisphere's "Cyber Monday" - will begin at 7pm tonight and run for 24 hours.

The Warehouse Group does not expect the margin pressure affecting its core Red Sheds business to persist, chief executive Mark Powell says.

Warehouse Group, the country's biggest listed retailer, expects lower first-half earnings as margins at its flagship Red Sheds come under pressure and it spends more on adjusting to a new competitive environment.

A controversial new Bunnings store on Great North Rd in Grey Lynn, Auckland, has been approved.

Kathmandu, the outdoor clothing retailer, says sales rose 0.9 per cent in the first 16 weeks of the year.

NZ retail sales grew less than economists were picking in the September quarter, as growth in car sales was offset by weak consumer core sector spending.