New Zealand consumer surveys

Awareness of consumer laws

95% are aware that laws exist to protect their consumer rights, compared to 94% in 2020 and 2018

71% Seek out extra information to confirm claims made by products, compared to 67% in 2020 and 61% in 2018.

45% report knowing at least a moderate amount about their rights.

1 in 4 consumers (24%) continue to answer 6 out of 10 statements correctly about their purchasing rights. In 2020 the figure was 26% and 19% in 2018.

Issues and consumer actions

55% of consumers report having at least 1 problem with a product or service in the last 2 years. In 2020 the figure was 49% and 56% in 2018.

67% of consumers took actions to try and resolve their problems. In 2020 the figure wass 73% and 72% in 2018.

Home-Based Telecommunication issues are trending downwards from 31% in 2018, 27% in 2020 to 25% in 2022.

Key reasons consumers don't take action to resolve issues:

• 36% are unsure what they could do to resolve it (24% in 2020 and 33% in 2018).
• 34% don’t think action would resolve it (26% in 2020 and 29% in 2018).

Consumert confidence in laws to protect them

Consumer confidence that New Zealand has adequate laws to protect them from being misled or cheated by businesses has decreased from 59% in 2020 to 53% in 2022.

72% agree that you can generally buy products and services and feel confident that businesses will do the right thing and not try to mislead consumer when making a purchase (74% in 2020 and 2018).

Consumer experience in getting redress may be better than the drop in confidence suggests.

70% of consumers who took action achieved a resolution to their problems (66% in 2020 and 74% in 2018).

Engagement with dispute resolution

83% of consumers said they are aware of at least 1 dispute resolution agency (84% in 2020 and 87% in 2018).

73% of consumers are aware of the Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand (74% in 2020 and 80% in 2018 and 2016).

Of the 67% who took actions to resolve their problems 10% went to the Disputes Tribunal (12% in 2020 and 5% in 2018).

44% agree there is adequate access to resolution services (42% in 2020 and 41% in 2018)

Consumers who have experienced a problem in the last 2 years are less likely to feel there is adequate access to dispute services, suggesting this perception could be tempered by negative experiences. (40% in 2022, 42% in 2020 and 41% in 2018)

Product safety

79% of consumers think about product safety’ always’ or ‘most of the time’ before making a purchase (80% in 2020).

Older consumers are more concerned than average about product safety. 87% of consumers aged 67 years and over think about whether a product will be safe to use before purchasing either ‘always’ or ‘most of the time’, compared to 79% of all consumers.

Other problem sectors