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The switch to online retail was no passing trend in 2020 as the year-on-year lift in e-commerce spending continued around the country in December, particularly in Victoria where the numbers jumped by a third.
Australia's largest ecommerce-focused fulfillment provider eStore Logistics has revealed data that shows a 27 per cent rise in online orders overall in December, following consistent growth across the year.
eStore Logistics managing director Leigh Williams describes the recent holiday period as a time of "wholesome" gift giving, with online sales rising for health and beauty products (30 per cent), books, CDs, DVDs (33 per cent) and home renovation items (96 per cent).
Unlike trends towards the end of the year for fashion retail overall, eStore Logistics found a year-on-year decline for fashion and apparel e-commerce sales in December after the segment boomed for most of the year.
Many shoppers also increasingly chose to buy their Christmas food and beverages online, demonstrated by a 67 per cent uplift in orders from 2019.
Growth rates for many categories were still short of their peaks in earlier months, such as a 129 per cent surge in April for books, CDs, DVDs, and a tripling of online sales for health and beauty products in some months.
Victoria had the sharpest rise compared to December 2019 at 33 per cent, followed by NSW (28 per cent), Queensland (25 per cent), the ACT (24 per cent) and South Australia (23 per cent).
"After a really challenging year, it's no wonder that Aussie Christmas shoppers opted to give wholesome gifts to friends and family at Christmas," says Williams.
"In fact, the growth in online orders in 2020 for these products shows that we responded to 2020s challenges by making wellbeing our top priority.
"In December, no Australian state was in lock down and all physical stores were operating as normal, however shoppers still opted to buy online. For online orders to still be growing at 27 per cent compared to December 2019 shows us that the habit of online shopping is being cemented in our lives for the long term."
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