A new report released by KPMG has revealed the online spending habits of nearly 20,000 consumers from 50 countries, including Australia.
The respondents were between the ages of 15 and 70, each having purchased at least one consumer product online in the past 12 months. The research investigated a number of factors related to online shopping, including consumer purchasing behaviour, the shopping decision process, attitudes and preferences, payments and delivery and customer loyalty and feedback.
Figures from the KPMG 2017 Global Online Consumer Report show that the top five categories for online purchases in Australia are women’s apparel, books and music, men’s apparel, electronics and wine. However, as KMPG Australia’s national leader of consumer markets, Trent Duvall, highlights this changes slightly when all alcohol categories are put together.
“When you include different types, alcohol is third behind women’s apparel and books/music,” Duvall said. “This shows the success of the likes of Vinomofo, Langton’s, Dan Murphys online as well as winemakers selling online themselves and shows a route for other traditional retailers looking to reinvent their route to market.”
Duvall also pointed out that while more and more Australians are heading online to do their shopping, consumers here still have more trust in websites linked to bricks and mortar retailers, rather than online-only stores.
“Another interesting finding is that alongside Latin American countries, Australia and New Zealand are the only countries where bricks and mortar retailers’ e-stores are more popular than online only sites. This shows that the trust and brand equity built by traditional retailers still holds sway in the digital age.
“For prominent Australian brands, there is an opportunity to diversify and retain market share by focusing on creating a holistic approach to retail across physical and digital storefronts.”
Duvall also explained some of the other information the survey revealed regarding the shopping methods of online consumers.
He added: “It is also interesting that only 24 per cent saw the product in-store prior to purchase, with 72 per cent performing an online search for reviews and recommendations prior to purchase. This confirms that many purchase decisions are informed by the recommendations of others, in most instances complete strangers. On average, Australians spent 1.2 hours researching online prior to buying.
“The Australian retail landscape is still very much driven by price and promotion, with 38 per cent of final online purchase decisions being motivated by price/promotion compared to a global average of 27 per cent. 39 per cent of Australian online purchases were from the site with the cheapest price confirming our propensity to shop around on price.”
The survey also revealed that the average number of online transactions completed annually by an Australian consumer is 16, compared to 22 for Asia and 19 in the US. The average cost of product bought online in Australia is $205, which is lower than the global average of $255, also 65 per cent of transactions in Australia were from retailers located in Australia or New Zealand, 13.1 per cent were from Western Europe and 11.9 per cent were from the US.
This story originally appeared on The Shout.
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