Experian Hitwise marketing director Georgia Lennon crunches the statistics on international luxury e-tailers down under.
Overall we have seen fluctuating growth in the category of luxury online retail over the past year.
While the larger high-end retailers have managed to maintain visit share, lesser known retailers in the Australian market including Neiman Marcus and FarFetch are expanding at a rapid pace.
Net-A-Porter, a dominant player in the online luxury retail space, experienced two per cent growth in total visits from January-December 2013, from approximately 475,500 to 486,600 visits.
While this may seem modest, in comparison with direct competitor Shopbop (which experienced a decline), Net-A-Porter has effectively maintained market share in a competitive environment.
It is a well-established brand and is set apart by the breadth of its offering and its ability to cater directly to the Australian market.
Australia is Net-A-Porter’s third largest market globally and considers the nuances of Australian culture when developing its e-commerce strategies.
ShopBop experienced a nine per cent decline in its total visits during the same time period, from approximately 530,800 to 483,100 visits.
However, the biggest growth in total visits can be seen in the mid-market with Neiman Marcus and FarFetch leading the charge.
These retailers experienced 111 and 105 per cent annual growth respectively, in 2013.
Neiman Marcus started shipping to Australia in November 2012 and now considers it one of its key international markets.
It also recently announced plans to dedicate marketing efforts here to drive growth in 2014.
This is testament to Australia’s rise on the radar of major online retailers.
Experian’s data shows an overall market growth with an average annual growth in total visits of 49 per cent, from January - December 2013, across all brands.
Interestingly, much of this growth can be attributed to players in the mid-market.
These new players plan to continue to focus on Australia and will further drive growth.
We know they have aggressive plans to expand in Australia in 2014.
In summary, it has been an exciting year for these pure-play luxury retailers and it will be interesting to watch how local brands respond.
About: Experian Hitwise data provides insights on how three million Australian internet users interact with more than one million websites across 165+ industries on a daily basis.