In-store experience is still tops for shops
FOOT traffic is still king for Cairns retailers.
Cairns has been ranked number 12 in the country for online sales by Australia Post’s Inside Australian Online Shopping Report.
But local shop owners say the majority of profits still come from in-store shoppers.
Makin’ Whoopee co-owners Fany Saumure and Kirsty Mulley told the Cairns Post about 85 per cent of their takings came from physical sales.
“I think it’s because of what we sell. People want to come in, in the flesh, and have a feel,” Ms Mulley said.
But she said it was still extremely valuable to the store to have an online presence.
“Even though it doesn’t give us as many sales as we would like, it’s still giving people who don’t live here access to us and everything about us and what we do,” she said.
Ms Saumure said the pair had no regrets about the time spent to run their online shop.
“It’s run through Shopify so we can do it ourselves and update things as we go, so that’s very useful for us,” she said.
“It’s really good to have that presence, especially around our markets.”
She said most of the store’s online customers were searching for items like keep-cups, baskets and books, while instore shoppers wanted a more tactile experience to buy jewellery and cosmetics.
Australia Post general manager for parcels and express services Ben Franzi said the courier company’s report showed a quarter of Aussie households shopped online in 2018.
He said overall for the country fashion was the leading online shopping category, accounting for more than a third of all purchases, with more than 20 per cent growth year on year.
Variety stores, health and beauty and homewares and appliances also attracted lots of online shoppers.
“Australians appreciate the convenience that comes with being able to access goods from a variety of sellers in one place – it is quite literally a market, replicated online and providing an abundance of choice for consumers,” he said.
The report shows that Cairns is the country’s 10th biggest buyer by volume when it comes to ordering homewares and appliances online, falling several places behind Toowoomba and Mackay.