A record number of adult Australians took to online retailers and department stores for their Christmas shopping in December 2017, according to Nielsen.
The data firm said 14.4 million Aussies shopped online, growing the number of people who visited the online mass-merchandise sub-category by 6.3 per cent when compared with December 2016.
Approximately nine million (8.8 million) adult Australians spent an average of 56 minutes online during December 2017, searching and shopping in the mass-merchandise sub-category via desktop.
More Australians accessed via their smartphones (9.3 million), however with a lower average time of 18 minutes per person, followed by tablet with 4.9 million people who spent close to 17 minutes on average per person.
Grocery retailers also fared well with their online offerings over the Christmas period, with Woolworths, Coles and Aldi all reporting notable growth in audiences to their sites and apps.
Woolworths reported a unique audience of 8.1 million Australians, a 14.4 per cent increase in people when compared with the prior year. This was followed by Coles (5.1 million, +7.2 per cent) and Aldi (2.5 million, +14.4 per cent).
Online electrical and department stores also saw an influx of adult Australians in December 2017 when compared with the year prior, despite some individual brands showing year-on-year declines in audiences. However, month-on-month increases showed an overall increase in online audiences.
According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data, online retail turnover contributed 5.5 per cent to unadjusted retail turnover in November, its largest contribution to total turnover since the ABS began tracking online activity.
Meanwhile data from Dynatrace has shown Australian websites clock slower times than overseas counterparts, with retailers in the UK and Germany leading the way during the holiday period
Access exclusive analysis, locked news and reports with Inside Retail Weekly. Subscribe today and get our premium print publication delivered to your door every week.
