Online shopping in Australia reached 8% share of total traditional retail sales at the end of 2017 but the real call out metric is the growth of Australian marketplace sales.
The 8% online share of total traditional retail sales is up one percentage point on 2016, with AUS$21.3 billion spent purchasing goods online. Online shopping increased by 18.7% outstripped traditional retail by which only grew at 2.5% – a difference of 16.2 percentage points.
This was revealed in an Inside Australian Online Shopping report by Australia Post an in-depth study into consumer online shopping behaviour and trends in Australia. The report estimates that by 2020 one in 10 items purchased by Australians will be bought online.
The key consumer trend is marketplaces where third party sales grew by 74.8% in 2017. I had to read that figure twice and yes, marketplace sales in Australia are running at an incredible 74.8% in Australia so if you’re a marketplace seller it’s time to grab a slice of the action.
eBay, Catch and Amazon are the hot properties in Australia but what products are Australians buying?
What products are Australians buying?
Variety Stores (we’d probably call them general marketplaces or department stores) have the biggest market share of online purchases as well as the highest year on year growth. Fashion is the second biggest market share and the second largest growth. Only media (9.9%) and Speciality Food and Liquor (0%) are growing at less than 10%. Although Health & Beauty has a relatively small share of online sales, growth is strong at 13.2%.
“Until recently, eBay was the only significant online marketplace for Fashion shoppers in Australia. With retailers like Catch and Myer setting up their own marketplaces, and Amazon’s arrival in late 2017, we see marketplaces playing an even bigger role in the future.”
– ‘Inside Australian Online Shopping’ report by Australia Post
With the growth of marketplace sales in Australia there is little doubt that overseas sellers can be successful. Australians are naturally patient when it comes to delivery times as so much of what they purchase has to be shipped from overseas. With the vastness of the country, even domestically it’s not unusual for a purchase to take several days to arrive.
If you’re thinking of targeting Australia then the report is well worth browsing. Much of the report is dedicated to analysing the different verticals revealing top selling products, monthly trends and regional growth by State, which also could be useful if you’re intending to use paid search in Australia.
