Australia Post: August 2020 was the biggest month in Australian online shopping history

New data from Australia Post has revealed that the number of online purchases for the month were up 8.9 % when compared to the 2019 pre-Christmas peak and 5.8%  higher than April 2020, the previous largest period.

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

“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 Ms Sheffield.

“What’s even more interesting is in 2019, 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,” Ms Sheffield continued.

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 this year over 8.1 million households have shopped online, an increase of 16 per cent when compared to the same time last year; and almost a million of these households had never shopped online before,” said Ms Sheffield.

“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%) of these households have continued to shop online, with a quarter of them shopping twice or more per month on average.”

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 %  nationally, and 145 per cent in Victoria, a trend set to continue with the key online sales period and Christmas fast approaching.