Daily spending in the region averages about $5.9 million. However, the latest figures show the value of spending dropped by about $2.5 million on Monday to $3.35 million (-42.4%) for the day, and by $851,000 on Tuesday to $5.1 million (-14.3%) compared with the corresponding days last year.
The substantial decline was closely connected to the drop in the number of transactions, which were down 34.9% on Monday and 8.8% on Tuesday.
Otago was not the only place affected by the snow. Nationwide, the number of transactions dropped 8.2% on Monday and 6.3% on Tuesday, and the amount spent was down 9.9% and 6.1% respectively.
Paymark processes more than 75% of all electronic transactions in New Zealand.
More than 74,000 merchants and more than 115,000 terminals are connected to the network, which processes up to 127 transactions a second.
Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Christie said he was not surprised at the statistics.
"I think it was born out of the fact we had a lot of closures, and the amount of traffic going into retail areas was down."
While the snow resulted in a "significant decrease" in spending, Mr Christie said it would take time to determine whether there would be any long-term financial effects.
He expected a lift in revenue in time to counterbalance the decrease.
"This will be caused by, for example, people who couldn't get to the supermarket earlier in the week, who will go later this week to restock their cupboards, which may balance it out."
The full extent of the situation may not be known until later this month, he said.
