Taranaki residents don’t like to shop around | Taranaki News | Local News in Taranaki

THE after effects of the global credit crisis are being felt by New Zealanders across the country with two in every five Kiwis considering money more important today than it was five years ago, according to the a ‘Savvy Shopper’ survey.
These findings come from the first of a series of three nationwide surveys supported by Visa Debit designed to establish new trends, views and behaviours in relation to payment preference, online shopping, overseas shopping and travel money.   
An overwhelming 95 per cent of respondents said they place equal or more importance on money today which signals a distinct change in attitude and the rise of a new breed of financially savvy New Zealanders, according to Sean Preston, a manager at Visa.
“This survey shows Kiwis are becoming more discerning when it comes to spending their money. The silver lining to the recession is our seemingly newfound maturity towards managing our money and purchasing decisions.”
Nearly half of all Kiwis surveyed know exactly where every single dollar is being spent.
Northland has the most financially switched on Kiwis at (57 per cent), followed by Auckland (48 per cent), Canterbury (48 per cent), Waikato and Bay of Plenty (43 per cent), Hawkes Bay, Taranaki and Manawatu (37 per cent), Otago and Southland (32 per cent), Wellington (31 per cent) and Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast in last place (26 per cent). 
Two in five New Zealanders consider themselves bargain hunters, 18 per cent describe their shopping style as focused and fast, while 12 per cent are extensive researchers.
Only seven per cent of Kiwis consider themselves to be social shoppers and a mere one per cent identify themselves as shopaholics.
Half of all females surveyed refer to themselves as bargain hunters compared to only 29 per cent of males.
Residents from the Taranaki (61 per cent) are the least likely to shop around in stores, unlike their Northland counterparts who at (80 per cent) are classified as New Zealand’s biggest window shoppers. 
Half of New Zealanders prefer to shop because of need, while a further quarter admit to being driven by price and promotions, which is more the case with females (31 per cent) compared to males (21 per cent).
On the flipside, more males (60 per cent) than females (44 per cent) claim to shop mainly because of need and more aged over 50 (60 per cent) than in their 20s (32 per cent).
When it comes to frequency of shopping, New Zealanders are fairly evenly spread with those who shop more than once per week (13 per cent), those who shop once a week (22 per cent), those who shop once every two weeks (24 per cent), those who shop monthly (19 per cent) and those who only shop when they have to (22 per cent).
The most prolific shoppers hail from Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast (14.7 per cent), followed closely by Auckland (14.4 per cent), Canterbury (14 per cent), Wellington (13.8 per cent), and in last place Northland (3.3 per cent).
Two thirds of New Zealanders have a preference for using payment cards over cash which has resulted in a reduction in the amount of cash being carried, with 24 per cent of New Zealanders having less than $10 in their wallets, and eight per cent carrying no cash at all. In contrast, Kiwis carry an average of 2.8 payment cards on them.   
Ninety-eight per cent of respondents agreed there are more ways to pay today than five to 10 years ago.