More Australian shoppers are moving online to make purchases and have moved beyond traditional purchases such as books and DVDs to clothes and alcohol, according to a report from Roy Morgan.
The report found 39.7 percent of Australians – roughly 6.7 million people – bought a product or service online in the last 12 months, compared to 34.4 percent on the previous year. Clothing and alcohol purchases in particular experienced significant growth.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said online shopping continues to grow in popularity and is showing no signs of slowing.
““As we see an increase in the range of products available online, together with an increase in the number of people who are comfortable giving their credit card details over the Internet, it’s not surprising that nearly half the population have bought something online,” she said.
However despite the popularity of online shopping, there are still some things that consumers are unwilling to buy online, including groceries. The number of grocery purchases online only experienced a minor increase from 0.9 percent in 2007-08 to 1.2 percent in 2008-09.
According to Levine, consumers are more wary of buying perishables like groceries online, whilst also believing online grocery purchases are a luxury for the wealthy, a perception that she says supermarkets must address in order to be able to capture a larger audience.
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