A new report has revealed the truth about the nation's consumers and what they really want from retail.
The latest Emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) Product Insights Report has uncovered some surprising facts about Australian shoppers, following a 54,000 strong Emma survey which investigates a range of products, lifestyle attitudes and behaviours.
According to the study, more than three quarters (78 per cent) of Australians have shopped online ever, while 86 per cent have been to a shopping centre in the past four weeks.
Grocery items factored in as the most popular purchase, with an average of $141 spent in supermarkets per week.
However, Australians still spent an average of $104 on clothing, $101 on furniture/homewares, $96 on electrical goods, $83 on hardware/gardening, and $77 on IT products.
Australians are spending most of their money at Westfield centres, which came in as the most popular bricks and mortar shopping destination in several cities, including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
In Sydney, shoppers are mostly attracted to shop at the CBD, the QVB and Westfield, while in Melbourne, Chadstone and Westfield Doncaster are most popluar destinations.
In Brisbane, Westfield Chermside and Carindale top the list, and in Adelaide Westfield Marion is the favourite, with Galleria the first choice in Perth.
Retailers on the most popular list include Bunnings, Big W, Kmart, Target, and Officeworks.
When it comes to online shopping, seven in 10 Australians have shopped domestically, with 61 per cent shopping on overseas sites.
The report also revealed that the core group for this in internet purchasing is 14-44 years of age. Further shopping online is done by those earning $80,000+ per year, tertiary educated and those who are students.
Among Australians, those earning more than $80,000 a year and tertiary educated shop online most. Those aged 30 to 44 topped the list of online shoppers, at 87 per cent of males and 85 per cent of females.
Overall though, consumers embrace retailers that blend both on line with bricks-and-mortar.
The target market to catch is 30 to 60-year-olds earning $80,000-plus per annum, with this group identified as the “biggest spenders”.
They represent the top 33 per cent of spending per month, with an average spend of $1900 per month.