Australia Post: online shopping is now a mainstay for Australian families
Australia Post has released its 2022 Inside Australian Online Shopping Report which gives insight into the latest Australian e-commerce trends. It estimates growth in online purchases in 2021 was up 12.3% when compared to 2020, and almost double the pre-pandemic level.
More than four in five Australian households shopped online during 2021, spending $62.3 billion1 on physical goods, driving the online share of total retail to 19.3 %.
Australia Post Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Paul Graham, said the pandemic brought about a fundamental shift in the way Australians live, work and shop, and that online shopping is now a mainstay for Australian families when purchasing everything from clothing to day-to-day household items.
“Right across the 2021 calendar year Australians turned to online shopping like never before, and with fluctuating restrictions and 15 million people in lockdown at one stage, e-commerce was a lifeline for people and businesses alike.
“Even as restrictions eased, Australia’s love of online shopping has not faltered, evidenced by the 5.4 million households we saw buying online each month last year, representing a 39% increase from 2019,” said Mr Graham.
Increased confidence and comfort with buying online saw shoppers increase their willingness to shop around, sharing their dollars across a broader cross-section of retailers and expanding their online purchases into new categories.
“Today’s online shoppers are looking for choice and convenience, reliability in supply and delivery, and with 75 % thinking about sustainability when they shop online, it’s having an enormous impact on which brands they choose to buy from and where they spend their money,” said Mr Graham.
“While we expect the growth we’ve seen over the last two years to moderate, shoppers’ eagerness to buy online will continue to increase, and Australia Post is ready and committed to supporting our customers as we move into this next phase of retail in Australia,” Mr Graham concluded.
To stay ahead of future growth, in October 2021 Australia Post announced an additional $400 million by mid this year in new facilities, fleet and technology and is improving the customer experience with new solutions including 2-hour ETA notifications which are being progressively rolled out.
Across the country in 2021, metro areas saw growth of 12.9 % year-on-year, while regional locations saw growth of 10.6 %.
More information is available at: auspost.com.au/online-shopping-report
