Australian low-price retailers Big W and Target were among the top 10 websites reporting the largest audience growth in 2023, according to global research firm Ipsos iris data.
While retail platforms dominated the Australian hit list, the largest audience growth among 100 consumer websites and apps was Open AI, owners of ChatGPT. This was followed by Temu, Mastercard, Shop App, Afterpay, Doordash, Big W, Dan Murphy’s, Target Australia and Woolworths’ gift cards.
The lift in Big W in particular comes as the retailer launched its own online marketplace called Big W Market in November last year.
Currently, the marketplace sells Christmas products alongside furniture and home decor, with plans to scale the offering ahead. The marketplace is a separate section on the Big W website.
That launch came as Big W’s parent company Woolworths Group unveiled a new platform for its third-party sellers across the group's three online stores - MyDeal, Everyday Market from Woolworths and the newly launched Big W Market.
The chart below shows audience growth of each of the top 10 sites and apps for 2023 over the 12 month period.
For the month of December 2023, Ipsos iris, Australia’s digital audience measurement currency endorsed by IAB Australia, showed that Australians aged 14 or above spent more than 3.8 hours a day online, up 3.4% on November and totalling 117 hours for the month.
The most consumed website and app categories in December were technology (21 million), social networking at 21 million, followed by search engines (20.9 million), retail and commerce (20.7 million) and entertainment (20.6 million).
Energy and utilities was the fastest growing category in December, rising by 11.8% compared to November.
December was the highest audience all year for the events and attractions category (up 7%) as Australians sought information about things to do over the Christmas/summer break, while the games category (up 5.2%) also had its highest audience for the year in 2023's final month.