Published on the 21/01/2015 | Written by Beverley Head
Consumers in Australia and New Zealand demonstrated their continued appetite for cashless transactions over Christmas – but online retail barely reached bonanza status…
Growth in online retail continued to be moderate across Australia and New Zealand in the run up to Christmas. According to the NAB’s online retail index for Australia there was a slowdown in November when sales contracted compared to October.
For the year Australians spent $A16.3 billion on online retail – around 6.8 percent of the total spend at bricks and mortar outlets, a figure which now seems to be pretty much stalled.
The Bank of New Zealand meanwhile said that online spending in November rose five percent compared to November 2013 – again described as only a moderate level of growth.
eWAY, an Australian business which provides the electronic plumbing for many online retailers, said that in December Australians spent approximately $A1.56 billion online – up from $A1.53 billion in November, but down on October, when sales peaked for the year at $A1.57 billion.
On Boxing Day Australians buying at the sales from home rooms spent $A35.8 million online in one day, up 17.4 percent on last year.
Matt Bullock, founder and CEO of eWAY, said that there had not been any “huge spikes or surges in spending or transaction numbers in the holiday period — not what you’d expect with all the hype and advertising. It was very steady”.
In New Zealand the Paymark electronic payments network recorded a 5.4 percent growth in December compared to the year earlier with $NZ5.3 billion of payments transiting the network – however there is no breakdown available from Paymark to indicate what percentage of those payments reflected online purchasing.
Kiwis however seem to like to leave their festive spending to the last minute – suggesting online wasn’t the big winner, as there would not have been time for goods to have been shipped before The Big Day. Christmas Eve proved Paymark’s biggest day on record with $NZ263.5 million of payments processed through the network – up 10.5 percent compared to 2013.
