Online shopping boom sets record with Victoria leading the way
Posted on 6th Oct 2021
Australia’s e-commerce boom has never been more obvious than in the month of August, during which the number of online purchases jumped by 8.9 per cent compared with the 2019 pre-Christmas peak and 5.8 per cent above April, the previous record month.
According to data from Australia Post, Victoria led the way, with online shopping up by 170 per cent year-on-year in August, compared with a growth rate of 85 per cent across the country.
This boom has given Victoria the title of “Australia’s online shopping capital”, said Nicole Sheffield, Australia Post executive general manager community and consumer.
“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,” Ms Sheffield said.
“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.”
But Victoria is not the only state where consumers are turning to online shopping, with the pandemic not only prompting seasoned shoppers to continue, but also 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,” Ms Sheffield said.
“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 per cent) 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.