Australia Post’s 2024 Online Shopping Report
Australia Post released its 2024 online shopping report today.
There is, as always, some interesting data about consumer spending online and a few things to take away as a seller.
The data shows a few key trends
- Marketplaces are more popular than ever with 1/3 of all transactions taking place on a marketplace.
- Spending online is changing with more, smaller purchases, as consumers look for value.
- eCommerce share of retail spend is back on the trend line from pre-Covid times. COVID-19 definitely gave eCommerce a boost but things have settled back down.
- Recent trends are flatter and likely being impacted by interest rates and cost of living pressures. Expect this trend to start moving up again in the next few years if interest rates are reduced and wages catch up with inflation.
Marketplaces
Marketplaces are certainly an area of growth that ReadyToShip has seen. We have had more and more customers selling on platforms like Catch, eBay and Amazon. (to see our marketplace integrations, click here)
As a seller there are a number of ways to use them in your eCommerce strategy, whether that be for a select group of products, or your whole catalogue. There are a number of integrations and apps out there to help connect your store (Shopify, WooCommerce, Neto etc) to marketplaces to expand your product reach. If you need to find an app like that, look at your relevant app store for ideas. Once you connect a Marketplace, either to your eCommerce platform, or directly to ReadytoShip, processing orders is easy!
Purchasing Behaviour
Consumer purchasing behaviour is also changing as customers are looking for more value. Australia Post reported that online sales increased by 88% during Black Friday in 2023 compared to 2019. You might need to think of ways to tap into this spending frenzy. Furthermore, evidence of this activity is shown in the strong growth of transactions and shipments during sale events in months of November, bringing Christmas sales forward. As customers are looking to spend and save, start looking at marketing to them a little earlier in seasonal periods. Perhaps encourage customers to sign up to your newsletter for a VIP sneak peek or early access to a sale event.
Online Share of Retail Spend
Australia Post reported that even though growth in online shopping slowed after COVID-19, eCommerce continues to hold a significant portion of total retail spending. (see graph below)
As eCommerce is now back to an ‘expected’ trend line with the COVID-19 impact seemingly well and truly over, you can expect the current eCommerce demand to be a good baseline to grow from. Growth in the market might still take a while until inflation slows and interest rates fall (building consumer confidence). Until then, discretionary spending will be tighter as consumers spend more of their dollars on food, clothing and other non-discretionary items. The good news is more households are shopping online than ever before, with figures showing consistent growth every year.
Finally, the report includes some great breakdowns of activity and shopping preferences by generations. This data can be really useful to help with your marketing and product/service messaging to your target demographic. Worth a read!
Click to view the full 2024 Inside Online Shopping Report.