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Online shopping clicks into second wave of growth across Australia
ONLINE shopping in Australia is enjoying a strong second wave of growth, according to Swinburne University of Technology researchers.
More Australian consumers seem to be building internet browsing, purchasing and financial transactions into their everyday lives.
A study of online retail in Australia from 2007-13, part of the World Internet Project (WIP) reveals a consistent pattern of large increases in the number of online purchases made by Australian consumers, reaching an average expenditure of $2616 a year.
"After an apparent plateau between 2009 and 2011, our latest survey confirms that online shopping by Australian consumers grew strongly again between 2011 and 2013,” said Scott Ewing of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation and Swinburne University of Technology.
"The good news for Australian businesses is that local retailers are maintaining their share of this growth, as Australian consumers maintain their strong preference for shopping with domestically-based websites,” Dr Ewing said.
"Three out of 10 Australians now shop online every week, or more often, compared with two in ten New Zealanders and one in 10 Swiss.”
The mean value of monthly online purchases by Australians grew by 5.8 percent to $218 from 2011-13, while the actual number of internet purchases grew by 46.2 percent. Men are still the internet shopping kings, buying $229 in online goods a month, compared to women’s purchases of $204.
"There has also been a continued major upsurge in the number of Aussies using the internet for financial transactions,” Dr Ewing said.
"For example people making travel bookings online grew from 49 percent in 2007 to 73 percent in 2013, those paying bills grew from 43 percent to 72 percent and those purchasing event tickets from 36 percent to 65 percent.”
The latest survey also reveals renewed growth in Australians buying digital content – movies, books, music, games etc – online rather than in-store.
The WIP is conducted in 30 countries round the world to compare internet use and behaviour. In Australia it consists of an annual survey of 1000 people aged 18 or older and has been running since 2007.
"In 2007 we found 73 percent of Australians were using the internet,” Dr Ewing said.
"This grew to 81 percent in 2009, to 87 percent in 2011 and in 2013 it reached 91 percent.
"So internet shopping in this country is growing for two reasons – first because more people are using the internet, and second because more internet users are purchasing online. It is important to bear these two factors in mind when considering the growth in online activity.”
To gauge how the internet has affected businesses, in 2007 around 40 percent of Australians never looked for product information online – but by 2013, this had dropped to 16 percent.
"Basically, five Australians in every six are now seeking information about intended purchases online before they buy, and this underlines the importance of having an internet sales presence.”
At the same time more than a quarter of the population is buying something online at least once a week, Dr Ewing said. About 69 percent look up items online before buying at the store.
Buying online is still strongly driven by price, consumers say – but they continue to find it hard to assess product quality online.
The proportion of internet users who shop online in Australia is very similar to comparable countries. Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and the UK have almost identical rates of online shopping at 85, 86, 85 and 87 percent respectively. This compares with 76 percent of Americans and 68 percent of Swiss.
Travel is an area where the internet plays a big role with 74 percent of Australians making an online booking at least once a month, while 79 percent now pay their bills online. However one area of online activity that continues to languish is buying stocks and shares – only 8 percent of people use the internet regularly for securities trading.
While 87 percent of Australians use the internet to compare prices, fewer than 13 percent use it to sell things regularly. Also 79 percent expressed a strong preference for buying goods from an Australian website.
Resistance to buying digital content online is decreasing, with consumers indicating they are more prepared to buy music or newspapers online: a slim majority are now prepared to download music but 61 percent are still opposed to online newspapers.
Full report at: http://www.cci.edu.au/sites/default/files/retailreport2014.pdf
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