New Zealand’s ecommerce sector has shot through the roof as punters increasingly open their laptop lids instead of their wallets to purchase new items. Data from Nielsen shows New Zealanders now buy 18.2 million items each year, to the value of $4.6 billion, and this figure is expected to rise to $4.8 billion by the end of this year.
Around 1,952,000 Kiwis made a purchase on the internet during the last year. Two thirds of online shoppers have bought from an overseas website in the last three months, a figure which has risen to 66 percent from 2014’s 61 percent. More than 60 percent of these people said they could not find the equivalent items through a New Zealand retailer.
Nielsen’s research director Tony Boyte says digital consumers are purchasing more items online, and their spending is up by 21 percent.
“While the growth of new online shoppers has slowed, those already online shopping are hooked,” Boyte says. “For the first time, those who purchased six or more items each year make up half of all online shoppers, up from 38 percent in 2010.”
Airline tickets is the leading category for New Zealanders shopping online. Fashion comes in at second place, including clothes, shoes and accessories, and over the last year, books have declined from the third most popular online purchase to the fifth. Books were replaced in third place by travel-related services such as hotels and car hire.
Trade Me is the most popular retail destination for Kiwi shoppers, fielding nearly two million monthly visits. The Warehouse has strong growth year-on-year, and gets around 871,000 monthly visits. GrabOne, Amazon and Air New Zealand were New Zealanders’ third, fourth and fifth favourite ecommerce sites.
- This article originally appeared on The Register.
