Ecommerce Facts and Figures in Australia

Read below more about ecommerce growth, Ecommerce sales and cross-border ecommerce in Australia

Australia has a good level of ecommerce penetration, with almost 70% of the population buying online. The market is well supplemented by mobile commerce; purchases via mobile accounted for nearly 30% of all online shopping purchases. Australian consumers are also comfortable with cross-border ecommerce, and are among the most likely online consumers to shop from overseas.

• Total Population
- 23.9 million
• Age Breakdown
- Only 15% of the population in Australia are over 65.
• Religion
- Australia is mostly a Christian country; the majority of inhabitants being Protestant, or Catholic.
• Urban Population
- 89%
• Internet Penetration
- 86.9%
- 19.5 million people
• Mobile Penetration
- 136% 
• Tablet Penetration
- 49.9% 
• Smartphone Penetration
- 76%
• Online shoppers
- 76% of Internet users
- 14.8 million
• Ecommerce Sales
- USD 16.8 billion 
• Ecommerce Penetration
- 61.9% 
• Ecommerce CAGR 
- 8% (2012 – 2014)
• Mobile Commerce
- 8.9 million Australians downloaded a mobile app in 2013, with 4.3 million downloading a banking and finance app and 2.9 million downloading a shopping app.
- 41% of smartphone users, 18.1 million people, undertook a mobile commerce transaction at least once.
• Mobile Operating Systems
- Android is the preferred mobile operating system in Australia at 46.9%.

Cross-border Ecommerce Opportunities

• Australians are among the most likely online consumers to shop from overseas at 63%, followed by Canadians and Russians.
• Consumers are most likely to buy from the US (84%), the UK (75%) and China (40%).
• Australian consumers are not put off by the slower speed of cross-border purchases, 36% of expect cross-border shipments to take two weeks or longer.
• The Australian cross-border ecommerce market has grown at a 16.4% CAGR since 2013.
• 15.6% of cross-border purchases are made from a smartphone or tablet. Australian consumers have a lower than average returns rate; 3% compared to almost 6% globally. 
• Australians are most likely to sell to China and the US, 40% and 17% respectively.

Language as a Key Driver

• The main language of Australia is English, spoken by approximately 80% of the population. 
• Minority languages in Australia include Mandarin (1.6%) Italian (1.4%) and Greek (1.3%). Indigenous languages are only spoken by 0.25% of the population of Australia.