Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular with consumers enjoying the convenience, choice and price checking that the online world offers.

Research by Julian Thomas, Director of the Institute for Social Research, has found that while numbers of online shoppers keep growing the amount they are spending is also on the rise with more than 25% of consumers spending more than $500 per month online.

Comparison Shopping

Australian online consumers are shopping with both domestic and international online retailers and many of the local bricks and mortar shops are feeling the impact. Especially as more people are doing their research offline and spending their money online.

This change has come about only recently and is adversely impacting offline businesses, especially the ones who's traditional pricing model with suppliers restricts them on their retail price margins.

Some retailers are keeping up with the online phenomena by maintaining both an online and an offline presence while others are falling significantly behind.

Not Just Clothes Shopping Online

The market segments of clothing, accessories, books, dvd's, tickets and events are all prospering well online.

Gone are the days when an e-commerce site just needed a shopping cart to capture the sales. Online shoppers are finding a far more integrated relationship is possible with their favoured e-shops with the growing use of email newsletters, blogs, social media pages, ability to publish wish lists and customers about to leave comments and recommendations. The anonymity of an online shop is gone for good and has been replaced with a two-way relationship that lets shoppers and retailers developed relationships that matter in the e-commerce world.