UK sites are key for Australian shoppers

UK webstores are of major interest to Australian consumers and clothing is the biggest product category they buy from them. That’s according to a new study by British parcels carrier Royal Mail which said that 30% of online Australian shoppers buy from UK sites.

Of these shoppers, the average spend on UK websites is A$70 (£39) per month, which is quite significant given that the average shopper in Australian spends A$132 (£73) online, which makes up an ever-rising chunk of their overall non-food shopping budgets.

And when it comes to products, the top three categories for online shopping are clothes (39%), books (24%) and holidays/travel (17%), but Australian online shoppers are also “significantly more likely” to buy accessories compared to the average international shopper.

The study is part of Royal Mail’s publicity campaign for its new tracked returns service for Australian shoppers and was based on an independent survey of 1,500 people.

The research also showed that 81% of Australian e-shoppers use digital marketplaces, compared to 68% in the UK, and that 12% of those in Australia buying from UK sites have returned items.

The reasons Australian cite for the British shopping habit is that they love UK brands (59%) and the prices they’re paying are attractive too (60%). Some 76% of Australian shoppers will buy products from the UK if they can’t find them locally. And 46% seek out items that are only on sale via the UK. In fact, 80% of online shoppers in Australia trust items purchased from UK sites to be genuine brands, reducing the risk of buying counterfeits.

As mentioned, Australian shoppers are big users of digital marketplaces with eBay the leading destination, followed by Gumtree and Amazon.

UK sites are key for Australian shoppers - Royal Mail report

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