Australia Post is set to launch change rooms across its post office portfolio in a bid to capitalise on the eCommerce shift.
In its 2023 Inside Australian Online Shopping Report, Australia Post confirmed its post offices are being “reimagined to provide digitally led in-store experiences, better self-service options and an optimised returns process with onsite change rooms.”
The change room initiative is intended to save time for consumers, who may otherwise return home with garments that don’t fit.
A pilot will be launched at its post office in Orange, NSW in July, which it calls a Community Hub@Post initiative.
“Post Offices will have a distinct focus on supporting businesses, particularly local small businesses, by offering dedicated products and services and a new platform to sell their own product direct to consumers,” the report read.
“The Community Hubs are designed to meet the ever-evolving needs of modern eCommerce, tailored for the needs of the local community they’re in.”
Australia Post executive GM in parcel, post and eCommerce services Gary Starr said that while eCommerce had moderated with the opening of stores, the shift in the way Australians work, live and shop is ongoing.
“Aussies’ love affair with online shopping has not waned, even with restrictions removed. One million more households are now shopping online compared to 2019, and 5.6 million households made an online purchase every month during the past year.
Australians are shopping online more often, with 37% shopping fortnightly, compared to 20% pre-COVID, Starr said.
“The growth trend in online was steady prior to COVID-19 but spiked during restrictions, now it’s showing a return to normal trend growth,” he said. “By 2033, we expect around one in three dollars will be spent online.”
According to data within the report, 9.4 million Australian households shopped online in 2022, spending $63.8 billion on online good. Australia Post said this indicates that online shopping now makes up over 18% of all retail sales.
Online fashion sales specifically made up $11.1 billion, with a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 17.4%, but down 0.9% on prior year (2021). These online fashion sales came from 6.2 million households, which Australia post said was more than 66% of total Australian households. The top locations for online sales are both Rose Bay and Bondi Beach in NSW.
The report found that the top 25% of fashion shoppers drove 68% of the category purchases.
Home and garden saw the highest market share at $18.7 billion, which was down 3.5% on the prior year. However, the overall growth was driven by increased spend on food and liquor stores ($13.1 billion with 11.4% YoY growth), as well as variety stores ($11.6 billion with 8.6% YoY growth).
Queensland saw the strongest YoY growth in number of online purchases than any other state (11.1%), followed closely by West Australians (11%).
Australia Post also found that remote and regional Australia continued to embrace the online shopping trend.
MST Marquee lead analyst Craig Woolford said a challenge faced by retailers online is how easy it is for customers to cross shop and compare, which can reduce customer loyalty.
“What good online retailers are doing is trying to entice their customers to stay with their platform,” Woolford said. “That could be via a subscription or other forms of rewards and points to create loyalty, consistency and in return repeat purchases.”