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Australians break online shopping record

August this year was the biggest month in Australian online shopping history with the number of online purchases up 8.9 per cent when compared to the 2019 pre-Christmas peak.

A market update from Australia Post has revealed that August was a record month for eCommerce, trumping April 2020, the previous record holder of online purchases.

Nationally, online shopping growth for August was 85.3 per cent year-on-year (YOY).

Australia’s online shopping capital city

Victoria continues to lead the way with online shopping growth in the state up 170 per cent year- on-year. This compares to a growth rate of 85 per cent across the country.

Nicole Sheffield, Australia Post Executive General Manager Community & Consumer, said Victoria had become Australia’s online shopping capital, with the state home to the nation’s five top online shopping locations in August.

Source: Australia Post Inside Australian Online Shopping update September 2020

“Point Cook in Melbourne’s west holds the number one spot, but suburbs like Craigieburn and Doreen in the outer-north made the top five list for the first time last month,” said Nicole

She said just four Victorian postcodes made it into Australia’s top 10 online shopping locations; Victorian postcodes now hold six of those spots for the six months from March-August this year.

“In July and August more than a third of all Australian online purchases were made in Victoria, which speaks to the impact Stage 4 restrictions have had on the local retail landscape.”

More households shopping online

More and more Australians are turning to online shopping with the pandemic not only prompting seasoned shoppers to continue, but encouraging many households to try online for the first time.

Between March and August 2020, over 8.1 million households shopped online, an increase of 16 per cent when compared to the same time last year.

Over this same period, more than 900,000 new households shopped online for the first time.

“In April we saw the biggest influx of new shoppers with over 200,000 new households entering the market. In the five months that have followed over two-thirds (67 per cent) of these households have continued to shop online, with a quarter of them shopping twice or more per month on average,” Nicole said.

Source: Australia Post Inside Australian Online Shopping update September 2020

In August, the stand out categories across the nation were food and liquor, health and beauty and home and garden products, all growing 90 per cent or more year-on-year.

Online shopping continues to boom with growth for the second week of September up 79 per cent nationally, and 145 per cent in Victoria, a trend set to continue with the key online sales period and Christmas fast approaching.

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