o we launched into eight countries, allowing customers to pay in local currency. Of the eight countries, Australia has bought the most products, by a wide margin, out buying the nearest country by 200 per cent.” In April of last year, Newegg announced it would begin shipping to customers in Australia. At first, only a subset of Newegg’s products could be purchased and, despite higher shipping costs, Australian customers were quick to take advantage of the product diversity offered by Newegg. “Last year we shipped everything from the US,” Merk said. “It was a limited selection too. Our selection is now up to 50,000 products being shipped from distributors and manufacturers in Australia.” As part of the local shipping initiative, Newegg has recently opened an office in Melbourne and plans to have permanent staff in place early next year. Further strategic investments and initiatives to grow market share both in Australia and other new locations will be announced, “as the time comes”. “We began selling to customers in Australia last year and were impressed by the steady growth as Australian customers became more familiar with Newegg,” said COO, James Wu. “We are confident the Australian market presents a great opportunity for Newegg.” Newegg Inc., founded in 2001, has over 25 million registered users and offers the latest consumer electronics products. NAB estimates Australians spent $17.4 billion on online retail in the 12 months to July 2015, which is equivalent to 7.1 per cent of spending at traditional bricks and mortar retailers, excluding cafés, restaurants and takeaway food. Nearly one in three (31 per cent) of 1000 Australians surveyed, in a report commissioned by shopper savings website, Cashrewards.com.au, admitted they went to overseas shopping sites for technology. Better prices were chosen by 41 per cent of respondents as the main motivating factor for shopping overseas. 33 per cent admitted it was product choice, or a type of product not available locally, that drew them to overseas sites. “While our local retailers can’t always compete on price or product range, our survey revealed an area of customer service that local retailers could innovate to win Aussies back, and which overseas retailers would struggle to offer,” said Cashrewards founder and CEO, Andrew Clarke. “It is delivery: this was identified as likely the least favourite aspect of online shopping for many Australians,” said Clarke. Want more Inside Retail? Subscribe to Inside Retail Weekly now and get our premium print publication delivered to your door every week.