Aussies lead world for cross-border e-commerce
Australian shoppers continue to lead the world in terms of the percentage of consumers engaged in cross-border online shopping, according to research from transaction technology company Pitney Bowes.
The company’s fourth annual Global Online Shopping Study found that 88% of Australians purchased products from retailers in a different country within the last year, a percentage only equal to Hong Kong and nearly double the percentage of US shoppers (47%).
Australians are turning to online shopping after being unable to find products while shopping in brick-and-mortar stores (72%). The top three reasons for Australians shopping online were price (64%), quality (42%) and selection (24%).
The survey also found that shipping costs are influencing Australian online and cross-border purchasing decisions.
More than four in five (82%) Australian online shoppers prefer free shipping with a longer delivery time to paying for shipping and receiving their item sooner.
Even difficult online shopping experiences don’t seem to deter Australians. The high percentage of e-commerce users persists despite 40% of respondents reporting facing challenges with their online orders during the holidays, including shipping tracking inaccuracies (12%) as well as having items shipped to the wrong address or being lost in the mail (8%).
In addition, the survey identified a shift in the way Australian consumers are researching products and shopping. This year, 52% of respondents reported looking at a marketplace directly for research, compared to just 41% last year. The percentage looking at retail websites directly for new products declined two percentage points over the same period to 50%.
“Australian shoppers have an entire global marketplace at their fingertips. The demand for a seamless customer experiences means customers expect that there is always a way to get the product they want, shipped wherever they want, whenever they want it. This creates both opportunities and challenges for retailers,” Pitney Bowes EVP and president for global e-commerce and presort services Lila Snyder said.
“With even more purchases expected to be online this holiday shopping season, retailers need to double-down on the elements of the consumer experience that matter most — delivery, returns, tracking and world-class customer service.”
How AI agents will transform enterprise IT operations
Implementing AI agents requires careful consideration of where the technology fits, what risks it...
Who should take the lead in responsible AI?
The companies that treat responsible AI as a necessity today will be the ones defining the...
Why there's no efficient automation without integration
It's not enough for organisations to simply use AI: they must leverage it in a way that...
