Australia Post offered a boon to online shopping in the past financial year with a record 9.3 million Australian households shopping online1.
For only the second time, the total number of households shopping online across the country exceeded 9 million. This figure was up from 9.1 million the previous year, while online shopping increased by almost 12%.
The six months from July to December 2021 were particularly strong as the impacts of the pandemic saw Australians turn to e-commerce like never before, and an average of 5.6 million households bought something online each month in FY22, 1.5 million more than the FY20 average.
New South Wales, which experienced prolonged shutdowns last year, grew by more than 27% year-on-year (YOY) and recorded the highest turnout relative to its population share, with around one purchase out of three intended for the State.
The ACT (over 27% YoY) and Western Australia (14% YoY) also saw significant year-over-year growth in online shopping.
More than a billion parcels have been delivered through Australia Post’s online parcel management platform since its launch in 2016, and Rose Yip, head of e-commerce analytics at Australia Post, said the growth online shopping had accelerated beyond expectations throughout the pandemic.
“We’ve seen over 900 million packages delivered in the last 3 years alone, which speaks volumes about how quickly e-commerce has grown in a short time,” she said.
“It’s now the norm for so many Australians, with over 5 million households regularly shopping online every month, which is why we’ve not only increased our network capacity, but we’re investing in more new facilities, technologies and our fleet to build a strong and sustainable network for the future.
Popular purchases were pet products (up 38% year-on-year), tools and garden items (29%), and products from department and discount stores (32%), while baby products and sporting goods also increased.
Recent end-of-financial-year (EOFY) sales were also a boon for sporting goods, sporting goods and outdoor sellers, all of which were up from the previous month.
For more online shopping trends and insights, visit auspost.com.au/einsights
BEST CATEGORIES FOR YEARLY GROWTH
Pet Products (38% YoY)
Department and discount stores (32% YOY)
Tools and Garden (29% YoY)
Baby Products (18% YoY)
Athleisure (17% YOY)
