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Online shoppers spend more – less often

Sarah Stowe

Australians are spending more online, but choosing to shop less often. And the profile of the shopper is young – customers aged under 30 account for 29 percent of the spend, and 21 percent growth.

Retailers are forecasting online sales growth of 20 percent according to the first CommBank Retail Insights survey of online purchases paid for on the bank’s customer credit cards.

The report indicates the value of the average online sale has risen 14 percent, year on year. Customers are proving selective, with 90 percent purchasing from only one to three brands online, four times a year.

Multichannel retailers make 34 percent of their revenue from online sales and 18 percent of online purchases are made using a mobile. Mobile transactions are expected to double, but investment in optimising sites for mobile use remains low.

While 70 percent of online retailers say a falling dollar has increased their costs, only 43 percent have raised their prices.

Just over one third of the retailers are expecting improved trading conditions for 2016; almost half predict stable conditions.

Jerry Macey, national manager, retail industry business and private banking, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, says there is plenty of room for further investment in digital sales.

“The Australian market remains relatively immature, skewed towards the under-30s, with ample scope for future growth.

“While there are many multichannel retailers – running separate, unintegrated physical and digital channels – there are few genuine ommichannel operators.

“Only by combining systems across channels for a single, deep customer view will retailers gain the true benefit of the increasingly rich seam of data now generated by every transaction.”

The potential for greater revenue to be drawn from online sales can be seen in the franchising sector. Data from the Franchising Australia 2014 report by Asia Pacific Centre for Franchising Excellence shows almost half of franchisors are selling online (44.7 percent)  and of those not utilising digital transactions, 33.8 percent plan to sell online.

And the report also revealed that of those franchisors already selling online, 63.3 percent are sourcing between one and 20 percent of sales from a website. Only 16.4 percent are bringing in more than 60 percent of their sales online.