Victorians, who have endured weeks of lockdowns and curfews, have broken Australian records for online shopping.
Australia Post today announced that August 2020 was the biggest month in our online shopping history with online sales 5.8 per cent higher than April, the previous record month.
This was fuelled largely by Victorians shopping online, with the state registering 170 per percent year-on-year growth.
Australia-wide, the growth figure is 85 per cent.
“In July and August more than a third of all Australian online purchases were made in Victoria, which speaks to the impact Stage 4 restrictions have had on the local retail landscape,” said Nicole Sheffield, Australia Post executive general manager, Community and Consumer.
“Victoria has become Australia’s online shopping capital.”
At the top of shopping lists were food and liquor, health and beauty, and home and garden products.
Last month, retailer Harvey Norman’s founder Gerry Harvey said his business had recorded a staggering 19.4 per cent hike in net profit to $480.5 million as consumers bought up furniture and appliances.
In August, the garden state held the top five shopping locations by volume:
Australia’s top 5 online shopping locations by volume – August 2020
- Point Cook, VIC 3030
- Cranbourne, VIC 3977
- Hoppers Crossing, VIC 3029
- Craigieburn, VIC 3064
- Doreen, VIC 3754
“Point Cook in Melbourne’s west holds the number one spot, but suburbs like Craigieburn and Doreen in the outer-north made the top five list for the first time last month,” Sheffield said.
“What’s even more interesting is in 2019, just four Victorian postcodes made it into Australia’s top 10 online shopping locations; Victorian postcodes now hold six of those spots for the six months from March-August this year.
Australia’s top 10 online shopping locations by volume - March-August 2020 inclusive:
1. Point Cook, VIC 3030
2. Cranbourne, VIC 3977
3. Hoppers Crossing, VIC 3029
4. Craigieburn, VIC 3064
5. Liverpool, NSW 2170
6. Toowoomba, QLD 4350
7. Doreen, VIC 3754
8. Rouse Hill, NSW 2155
9. Ballarat, VIC 3350
10. Gosford, NSW 2250
Sheffied added September was also coming along strongly with online sales up a whopping 145 per cent in Victoria and 79 per cent nationally.
Online shopping is expected to rise further as we come into the key Christmas shopping period.
Last month, Australia Post blamed parcel deliveries for affecting its letter service delivery. It announced letters would only be delivered every second day and that the delivery time for regular letters would be up to 5 business days after the day of posting. These changes would apply into 30 June 2021, it said.
Two weeks later, Australia Post reported group revenue was up 7 per cent to $7.5 billion.
