Australia Post peak: 2,800 parcels delivered to Australian households every minute

With cost-of-living pressures and high inflation an ongoing concern, Aussies turned to the cyber sales to stretch their dollar further, fuelling a surge in online shopping activity.

Across the country, Health and Wellness was the crowd favourite, growing 20.5% in the number of online purchases (YoY), followed closely by Athleisure and Tools & Garden increasing 15.8% and 14.6% respectively³.

2,800 parcels were delivered to Australian households every minute in November and December with 7.6 million Australian households making at least one online purchase in November and December, representing a 2.4% increase from last year.

While shoppers in each state and territory snatched bargains in the online sales events, it was Northern Territory (up 12.4%), Tasmania (up 11.4%) and South Australia (up 8.9%) that saw the strongest year-on-year (YoY) growth. Nationally, the three top suburbs for online shopping were Queensland towns Mackay and Toowoomba and Victoria’s Point Cook.

Australia Post Executive General Manager Parcel, Post, and eCommerce services Gary Starr said on its busiest day, 9 December, Australia Post delivered over 3 million parcels, and 2 million deliveries per day for more than 30 days.

“The record volume of deliveries reflects Australia Post’s ongoing investment into new and upgraded parcel facilities, technology and fleet as well as a commitment to improving services for online shoppers. While we are proud of what we have achieved, we can always do better, and we’ll reflect on this peak to start planning for the next.

“Consumers are more empowered than ever to manage their delivery experience. We’ve listened and understand their need for more reliability, simplicity and speed when ordering online, which has ultimately shaped the success of our best peak yet.

“As we look ahead, retailers have a tremendous opportunity to learn from and capitalise on the growing appetite for online shopping, especially during key sales events. The record-breaking cyber weekend (29 November – 2 December 2024) which saw 7.8% growth in online purchases compared to the same time last year, shows Aussies are waiting for these sales to do all their shopping at once, cementing strategic shopping as the new norm.” Mr Starr said.

4.6 million Aussies used the Aus Post app to track their parcels in November and December, with a record 57 million visits in December alone, meaning more customers were able to simply manage their delivery experience than ever before.

To learn more about these trends and access data and insights about shoppers, visit Australia Post Quarterly Online Shopping Report: http://auspost.com.au/einsight.