2013, although only half over, has been heralded as the year when online retailing in Australia grew up. Even people who were decrying online retailing just a few years ago have come to realize that it’s an essential part of a business plan now and businesses that started online are growing in leaps and bounds.
Telsyte senior research manager Sam Yip says, it’s been a “very big year of change”.
“There have been players early in the space that have dropped out, and a lot of bricks-and-mortar retailers are doing more.”
“We’re not hearing any more Gerry Harvey stories; everyone acknowledges that this is the channel to be operating in.”
Even Australia Post is acknowledging the change, altering its operations to accommodate the influx of parcel shipments it now has to deal with because of the online retail boom.
Now that Australia has embraced online retailing, Yip says, platforms like mobile are up next.
But first, the actual logistics of online selling have to be perfected.
“The other big challenge here is around delivery,” Yip says. “In the past year we’ve seen horror stories of where logistics have gone wrong, with people getting wrong orders all the time.”
“There’s a need to really refine that back-end logistics functionality.”
Considering traffic data from Experian, revenue, and noteworthy achievements (and excluding local divisions of global companies, such as Apple and Amazon, along with auction sites such as eBay and Gumtree), the top 20 online retailers of 2013, in no particular order, are:
- Kogan
- Milan Direct
- Catch of the Day
- Booktopia
- JB Hi-Fi
- Officeworks
- Specialty Fashion
- Big W
- BrandsExclusive
- The Iconic
- Shoes of Prey
- DealsDirect
- Get Wines Direct
- Groupon
- Ozsale
- StyleTread
- Dick Smith
- Appliances Online
- EB Games
- Westfield
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