Shopping ‘til we drop online
GARDEN City shoppers are buying health and beauty products online more than any other location in the country, spurred on by COVID-19 restrictions.
That’s according to a new report from Australia Post that details shopping habits across Australia.
Coronavirus has been identified as the catalyst behind an explosion in online retail in the 2020 Inside Australian Online Shopping Report, released earlier this month.
Australia Post’s Ben Franzi said the e-commerce industry was currently in “overdrive”.
“This shift happened almost overnight with growth for the eight weeks following the WHO’s announcement of the pandemic up 80 per cent year on year,” Mr Franzi said.
“In April alone we saw over 200,000 new online shoppers enter the market, and a million more people overall shopping online every week when compared to the average in 2019.”
April also included what Australia Post labelled the “busiest period in online shopping history”, the Easter long weekend.
While online deliveries dropped in May, Mr Franzi said they were still significantly up and could suggest a “new normal”.
Due to social distancing, he said the organisation also expected contactless delivery options to continue their increase in popularity.
Toowoomba was the third highest buying location by volume in the country in 2019, with an annual growth of 14 per cent.
The city also landed in the top ten for all purchase types.
In 2019, Australian shoppers spent $32 billion online – a growth of 17.5 per cent.
Melbourne’s Point Cook remained the number one hotspot for online shopping for the fifth year in a row.