When adjusted for seasonal effects, retail spending was unchanged this month, as it also was last month.
Statistics New Zealand business indicators manager Neil Kelly said: "Spending rose in three retail industries and fell in three during July.
"Durables and consumables had the largest rises, while both vehicle-related industries fell."
While spending on durable goods was up nearly 0.9% and spending on consumable goods rose 0.3%, the spending on fuel fell 0.6% in the latest month.
Core retail spending, excluding vehicle-related industries, rose 0.5% in July, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the total value of electronic card spending, including services and other non-retail spending, went down by 0.1%.
The report also noted that trends for the total, retail, and core retail series have all generally been rising since these series began in October 2002.
In unadjusted terms, New Zealanders made 118 million electronic card transactions with an average value of $51 across all industries in July, with $6bn spent across all transactions.
