$167m spent on shopping online: report

DUNEDIN shoppers spent more than $150 million online last year as the comfort and ease of sitting on your couch becomes more alluring than spending time browsing the aisles.

A report commissioned by New Zealand Post and conducted by analytics company Datamine found Dunedin residents bought $167 million worth of goods online last year.

They spent on average about $98.60 and completed 1.7 million transactions.

In total New Zealanders spent $3.6 billion on online purchases last year — about 8% of all retail sales.

Ocean View resident Jessie Scoullar said she did between 80% and 90% of her shopping online, which included groceries and clothing.

Mrs Scoullar said with two young children it was much easier to sit down and think about what she needed to buy instead of walking through a noisy shop trying to remember what she needed.

While there were delivery costs associated with online shopping it was minimal when shopping in bulk, she said.

‘‘It’s only $12 delivery for the groceries, which is probably about the same amount I would have spent on petrol going back and forth into town.’’

She still liked to shop physic ally for Christmas and liked to support local businesses either by shopping in store or online when she could.

To compete with larger and international companies, many Dunedin businesses have also moved their shops online.

Baby Divine owner Kim Cross said the shop’s website was an important element of her business, despite physical sales still outnumbering those from the website.

Instore sales accounted for more than double of what was sold online but Mrs Cross expected the gap to close in the next five years.

‘‘I think as the new generation comes on and people become more comfortable with shopping online it will pass store sales, but that’s still a few years away.’’

Many customers browsed the website before they came into the shop and bought an item, she said.

‘‘It’s just a lot easier to have a look online instead of walking or even ringing around a few places to ask them what they have in stock.’’

Earlier this year, the Government announced plans to introduce levy GST on most items shipped to New Zealand from overseas.

At present GST is not included on most goods under $400 bought online from an overseas company.

❛ It’s only $12 delivery for the groceries which is probably about the same amount I would have spent on petrol