Australian online shopping habits
With major world events spurring changes in people’s day-to-day lives, 2020 has been a monumental year. In The 2021 Topics and Trends Report From Facebook IQ, they analyse four regions—Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America—and eight countries within them, exploring how COVID-19 is affecting individuals and communities. Spanning borders, the pandemic has created common experiences that touch on local cultures in different ways. In many instances, it is accelerating cultural developments that were already underway.
We take a look at the rise of online shopping hobbits here in Australia and how distribution challenges and a penchant for the old school have helped shaped the online landscape.
Compared with other countries, Australia has been slow to embrace online shopping, since the country’s geographic spread makes deliveries hard to fulfil efficiently. But since Amazon entered the market in 2017, interest in e-commerce has grown significantly. That interest is intensifying as shoppers discover the convenience of deferred payment plans and rapid delivery where they can find it.
Between March and April 2020, e-commerce spending increased 29% month over month as people sought out necessities online, and nearly half of Australian online shoppers reported using at least one new digital shopping platform for the first time between July and August 2020. Among new shopping trends taking off are subscription boxes, which supply people with new selections of drinks and snacks, beauty products and vitamins each month. In a time when people’s schedules and surroundings are otherwise predictable, unboxing these deliveries provides some much-needed serendipity.
Australians are taking care to select online retailers who are able to serve their regions efficiently, and many prefer click-and-collect programs, which enable shoppers to pre-order and pick up their purchases at a local store. Out of necessity, Australians are quickly forging a hybrid shopping experience that fits their needs online and offline.
