Christmas shoppers preparing for the gift-giving season early and making the most of discounts during Black Friday and Cyber Monday have set a new record, making November the biggest month in Australian online shopping history.
Up 3 per cent from November last year, over six million households made an online purchase during the month, half a million more than October.
Australia Post said it “hasn’t seen anything like it before”. Black Friday and Cyber Monday was a record, with the number of online purchases surpassing last year’s record Cyber Weekend by 6.6 per cent.
Data shows that 4.9 million households shopped online during the two-week period, up 4 per cent from last year. New South Wales topped the savvy shoppers table, with one in every three parcels processed bound for its residents, followed by Victoria and Queensland.
In terms of items purchased, Aussies have proven their love for comfort clothing with Athleisure the most popular purchase category experiencing year-on-year growth of 24 per cent, followed by Footwear, Tools and Garden and General Clothing which all saw growth of more than 13 per cent.
Australia Post executive general manager, customer and commercial Gary Starr said delivery teams were well equipped to meet the increased delivery demands.
“Cyber sales are clearly here to stay, increasingly starting earlier in November and lasting longer into December. More people are holding out for the sales, given inflationary pressures, with online purchases growing by 42 per cent during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, compared with the two weeks prior.
“We’re already seeing our biggest Christmas season, however our customers can be assured that we’ve added more capacity across our workforce, more electric delivery vehicles, more delivery days, and more freighter capacity to manage this increased volume. We’ve also extended retail trading hours in select locations. We love this time of year and love being a part of delivering joy to people across the country.”
Australia Post also saw an uptick in freight volumes compared to the same time last year with more than 758 tonnes of freight moved by air between 25 and 28 November.
The Australia Post mobile app is the best way for customers to get updates about when purchases are due to arrive and to choose the best place to collect parcels, including at free 24/7 Parcel Lockers at more than 1000 locations around Australia.
