Category Archives: statistics

Kiwi Online Shopping & The Global Threat

As we plunge into 2015, shopping online will continue to outpace traditional retail growth — NZ annual online spending is now equivalent to around 9.5% of traditional retail sales (excluding grocery and liquor).

Good news for online traders, right? Yes, but there’s an elephant in the ether, in the form of international eCommerce.

Take a look at the latest stats, from BNZ/Marketview (October 2014):
online-shopping-oct2014
As the charts above clearly indicate, more and more Kiwis are choosing to shop online at international merchants, and it’s a trend that seems to be accelerating.

Domestic online sales are still in the majority, but that’s unlikely to remain the case for much longer. As the graph below shows, international purchases now account for 43% of online sales.

If the current international growth rates continue, we can expect international online purchases to be greater than domestic online within two years.

online-by-location-oct2014

So where’s the money going? BNZ/Marketview helpfully provides a breakdown by industry sector:

online-spending-patterns-oct2014

Of even greater interest: how spending patterns have changed over the last 12 months. Most notable: the dramatic decline in expenditure on daily deals, as consumers grow weary of being bombarded with constant email exhortations to save money by spending.

online-growth-oct2014
Another trend which has become evident in 2014 and which will simply swell in importance in 2015: shopping by smartphone. A pre-Christmas survey commissioned by new Kiwi shopping site and app SellShed found that one in three Kiwis (35%) were planning to use their smartphone to find presents for friends and family, avoiding Christmas queues in favour of convenience.

Other eCommerce trends of note, from a bevvy of industry experts (as reported by Ometria):

  • Pia Stanchina – Industry Manager, Fashion at Google: “We forecast that 50% of UK retail-related queries will come from smartphones this Christmas, which is testament to the transition from the desktop era to the mobile era.”
  • Drew Sanocki – Ecommerce consultant, drewsanocki.com: “I think the biggest thing is segmentation and targeting. I’m consistently surprised at the number (and size) of retailers that I work with that aren’t implementing even a basic level of segmentation and target to 1) identify their best customers and 2) treat them well.”
  • Alicia Navarro – CEO, Skimlinks: “I’m excited about Apple Pay and the future of payments on mobile devices. The easier it will be to transact on mobile (and to track sales accurately) the more the advertising and affiliate markets will expand, which benefits publishers, advertisers and ultimately users.”
  • Ashleigh Tennent – Marketing and Customer Experience Director, Wool and the Gang: “Opportunity lies in storytelling, not by the brand, but by its community. Smart brands will get their customers to create incredible content – that’s far more believable and real. Over time you’ll find that the content that converts at the highest rate will be created from within your own community.”
  • Michel Koch – Ecommerce Director UK and International, Maplin Electronics: “Here are the three top opportunities for ecommerce marketers, in order of importance:
    embracing multi-touchpoint analytics and attribution modeling to improve campaign efficiency, by identifying the best performing journeys across channels and devices and the right timing to push the right message to the right customer.
    leveraging mobile in a multichannel environment, providing customers with timely information and services wherever they are (home, stores, on the go).
    leveraging the power of video (product and how to videos) and user generated content (photo and video curations) to differentiate the brand and increase visibility across channels and devices as well as improve conversion.”

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If eCommerce is going to be important to you in 2015, we really have no choice except to recommend that you check out our Mastering eCommerce course (especially because you can enjoy a $200 discount if you sign up by December 21).

Kiwis’ Offshore Shopping Continues To Grow

The latest BNZ Online Retail Sales Index (to 31 January 2014) shows that growth in online shopping continues to outpace traditional shopping — but the big growth is in Kiwis buying from international sites, up 24% year-on-year (while domestic online sales grew by 10%).

In our view, that international growth is driven by quite a number of factors, including:

  • greater Kiwi comfort with shopping from international sites (from big brand sites, at least)
  • the increasing spread of debit cards, which provide more and more Kiwis with the ability to use their bank accounts for shopping online
  • word of mouth from satisfied Kiwi international shoppers, encouraging their friends to do likewise
  • the introduction of US and UK mailing addresses by New Zealand Post, publicising and legitimising the practice of mail collection and forwarding
  • more and more international websites offering pricing in NZ dollars and some (eg UK Book Depository) offering free shipping to New Zealand

BNZ have put their latest stats into a handy infographic:

offshore-shopping-infographic

Scary eCommerce Statistics, Trends & Predictions

Wondering about the latest eCommerce statistics? Planning ahead and need some trends and extrapolations?

Check these out (we call them “scary” if you’re a retailer committed to bricks & mortar):

  • 54% of Kiwis aged over 18 years are now shopping online, an increase from 38 percent of New Zealanders five years ago (Nielsen NZ Online Retail Report June 2013)
  • In key spending demographics, the numbers are much higher. 71% of Kiwis aged 25-34 and 68% of those aged 35-44 now shop online (Statistics NZ, per NZ Retailers Association Online Retail Report 2013)
  • New Zealanders spent $3.7 billion in the last 12 months purchasing via the internet (Nielsen NZ Online Retail Report June 2013)
  • 26% of the total NZ online shopping, representing nearly $1 billion, was spent on international websites (Nielsen NZ Online Retail Report June 2013)
  • These totals are only for physical products purchased online. It’s estimated that a further $1.6-$2 billion is spent on downloadable products or intangible purchases such as airline tickets, rental cars, accommodation, theatre tickets and entertainment (NZ Retailers Association Online Retail Report 2013)
  • 37.8% of Kiwi online shoppers bought Clothing, Shoes or Accessories online in 2012, while 32.1% bought Books or Magazines (Nielsen NZ Online Retail Report June 2013, as reported in NZ Retailers Association Online Retail Report 2013)
  • Smartphones have changed the way that Kiwi consumers shop. Smartphones are critical shopping tools with 74% of NZ users having researched a product or service on their mobile device. (Google/Ipsos Our Mobile Planet NZ May 2013)
  • 33% of Kiwi smartphone users have made a purchase on their phone; of those, six out of ten have purchased within the last month (Google/Ipsos Our Mobile Planet NZ May 2013)
  • U.S. wedding ring retailer My Trio Rings reports that the amount spent in a smartphone transaction tends to be as much as 12% more than sales through other media
  • More than a quarter (27%) of Kiwi online shoppers made 11 or more transactions online in 2012, an increase of 44 percent from 2011 (Nielsen NZ Online Retail Report June 2013)
  • 17% of Google searches on a mobile device result in a purchase (Google/Nielsen Life360 Mobile Search Moments Q4 2012)
  • Over 40 per cent of all visits to Trade Me are now from smartphones and tablets (Trade Me Annual Report 2013)
  • A survey of 2000 UK consumers by ITV’s Tonight news programme found that 49% of UK consumers plan to buy the bulk of their 2013 Christmas gifts online
  • By 2018, the Centre for Retail Research predicts that 61,930 UK shops will close and more than 21% of purchases will be made on the web (Monocle, October 2013)
  • Internet marketing experts at Emarketer estimate that by the end of 2013, eCommerce sales in the U.S. will generate US$262.3 billion worth of sales, 16.4% higher than in 2012
  • Sales from U.S. mobile commerce alone is projected to amount to US$41.68 billion in 2013 (eMarketer September 2013)

New Zealand eCommerce Statistics 2013 [Infographic]

Because infographics are so popular, we’ve put together this collection of New Zealand 2013 eCommerce statistics.

In one handy place, you’ll find:

  • How many NZ web users made at least one purchase online in 2012
  • How many New Zealanders now shop online, by age group
  • How much money will be spent online by Kiwis in 2013 and how much they’re expected to spend by 2016
  • How many Kiwis shop online by mobile and by tablet
  • What NZ Internet shoppers buy online, by category
  • How much NZ Internet shoppers spend in a typical month

The data comes from:

  • Statistics New Zealand Household Use of Information and Communication Technology 2012
  • Julian Prior, PwC interview: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10880279
  • The Nielsen Company, New Zealand 2012 The Year That Was
  • Roy Morgan Research, State Of The Nation, March 2013 [the graphic from this research comes from the NZ Herald story reporting the results]

If you’d like a copy of this infographic in full size (A4 width), email us at info (at) eCommerce (dot) org (dot) nz.

Latest New Zealand eCommerce Statistics

Statistics New Zealand has just released the latest Online Shopping figures from the Household Use of Information and Communication Technology report for 2012 — and they make fascinating reading.

Key points:

nz-ecommerce-statistics

Yes, 54% of New Zealand’s 2.8 million Internet users (those aged 15 plus who went online in the last twelve months) shopped online and made at least one purchase in 2012.

If we look at individual age groups, those numbers go way up:

ecommerce-by-age

Typical online shopping expenditure ranges from twenty to five hundred dollars in a typical month (with a small percentage who spend a lot more):

nz-ecommerce-spend

As Statistics New Zealand notes:

It also seems that what we’re buying is changing. We’re not necessarily buying tangible items; over half of those who shopped online had at least one item delivered electronically. This may include items such as e-books, music, or e-tickets.

Looking at those who had made a purchase in the four weeks before the survey, women outnumbered men in spending a total value of up to $500, while the more expensive purchases predominantly belonged to men.

The number of people spending a total of over $2,000 online has doubled since [the previous survey, i] 2009, to reach 44,000 people in a four-week period.

If you are one of those who aren’t yet offering ecommerce on your website, NOW would be a good time to start. Check out our Mastering eCommerce course.