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In Amazon Australia's 2018 Trends Report, the eCommerce giant revealed key milestones since its domestic launch.

The activewear category was spotlighted as the strongest for fashion sellers, with best-selling brands including Puma, Lorna Jane, and Calvin Klein. Puma in particular performed well in footwear, while Calvin Klein's Intense Power Square Scoop Logo One Piece took out the swimwear popularity contest. Tropical was also a top-selling swimwear trend, with palm prints a key standout in 2018.

Here Amazon country manager Rocco Braeuniger reveals key achievements this year, including expanding its selection to almost 100 million products across 29 categories.

It’s incredible to think that just one year ago we launched our Australian store. It has been a brilliant journey and to the millions of customers who have welcomed us, thank you. We have been humbled by your support and thrilled by the reception you have given us.

Looking back at some of 2018’s best-selling products has given us a chance to reflect on the year, look at what customers have loved, and take a look at some of the trends that have taken Aussies by storm. It seems that the nation has been swept up with a thirst for all things retro, from Mario to denim jackets to LEGO – who doesn’t love embracing their inner child?

We have also seen that Aussies are passionate about self-care, with a number of personal development titles appearing in the best-sellers lists across Kindle and print books, but the most pampered members of the family are perhaps our beloved pets!

Before we jump into this year’s consumer trends, let me share some updates on how we’ve been working to build a great experience for the millions of Australian customers visiting our store each week. Since launch, we have grown our selection to almost 100 million products across 29 categories, including six new ones with Pantry Food & Drinks, Pet Supplies, Automotive, Luggage, TVs, and Jewellery recently launching.

As more and more brands have joined Amazon this year, customers are now able to access great home-grown staples such as Milo, T2, Sol Sana and Cooper Street, as well as international favourites like Oreo, Sony, M&Ms, Calvin Klein, Whiskas and Antler.

As customers snapped up all the great deals on offer, we opened a second fulfilment centre in Sydney to meet demand. February saw the arrival of Alexa, the brain that powers the Echo family of devices, to Australia, along with three Alexa-enabled devices: Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Plus. Since then we have brought customers more, with the launch of the Echo Spot, Echo Show, Echo Sub, and the all-new Echo Dot and Echo.

Our Echo devices are voice- controlled speakers designed entirely around your voice. For customers Down Under that meant a new voice, Australian accent, local personality and knowledge, and skills built by Australian developers. I have two in my home – the Aussie Alexa and the German Alexa experience – and it is incredible to see just how authentic the Aussie personality is!

Just ask, and Alexa will tell you what the surf is like at Bondi, play music from Gang of Youths, read the news, control your lights, sing Waltzing Matilda, test your general knowledge, even crack you up with a joke!

With more than 19,000 skills, the list really does go on. We really wouldn’t be where we are today without the Marketplace sellers on Amazon.com.au, and so February also saw us delighted to launch Fulfilment by Amazon, which gives businesses access to Amazon’s world-class fulfilment and customer service expertise and provides customers with the convenience of fast delivery on more products.

We now have almost 10,000 Australian sellers on Amazon.com.au and, in the report, you will read some of their stories including the provider of a staple in my home, Lonsdale Coffee Roasters.

Global Store arrived in May, and we now have almost 20 million items from Amazon US available on Amazon.com.au, many of which are eligible for free shipping for Prime members in Australia.

In June , just six months after launch, we were excited to bring Prime to Australian customers – giving Prime members in Australia access to the widest selection of Prime benefits at launch for any country to date and we were pleased with the reception, which exceeded all our expectations.

Prime members immediately had access to free delivery on millions of eligible local and international items - with almost 90 per cent of Australians having access to free two- day delivery on local products as soon as they sign up to Prime. Members also had access to exclusive and award-winning Prime Original series such as my favourite, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, and other popular movies and TV shows with Prime Video; over 1,000 e-books with Prime Reading; benefits for gamers with Twitch Prime; discounted priority delivery and more.

In October, we also stuck to our promise of adding more to Prime with the launch of Prime Music, giving members access more than two million songs for up to 40 hours per month, on-demand by best- known artists, along with hundreds of hand-curated playlists and personalised stations.

All at no extra cost to Prime members. In November we launched the Amazon Fashion 2018 Local Brand Award, giving up-and-coming Australian brands the opportunity to win a $75,000 marketing package to accelerate their growth and introduce them to more customers around the country.

We also brought tens of thousands of products to customers at discounted prices with our first ever Black Friday deals event. Customers snapped up deals across the board with video games and games consoles being the best-selling of all the deals, closely followed by dishwasher tablets and Bose QuietComfort noise cancelling headphones. It’s been a big year and we’re only getting started! We hope you enjoy our trends report, and on behalf of everyone at Amazon, I’d like to wish you a happy Christmas and a great 2019.

It’s always day one at Amazon and we’re excited to continue to grow our store and invent on behalf of the Australian shoppers and to see what the New Year brings!

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