Travel takes off as Aussies cast the net to catch a cheap deal.
By Semrush Vice President of Marketing Olga Andrienko.
In 2020, Australia was in various stages of lockdown with many around the nation clicking ‘add to cart’ for their daily shopping needs more than we ever imagined possible. Twelve months on, it’s a very different story, with the majority of the nation able to enjoy the window-shopping experience once more.
To understand how Aussie’s retail activity has changed, Semrush analysed data from more than 290 online retailers across categories including home, electronics, food and lifestyle over a 13-month period.
The top 20 retailers amassed more than 452 million website visits on average each month during this period. While this number is substantial, it’s actually seven million visits lower than last year, which could be reflective of the fact that many Australian businesses have brick and mortar stores open rather than online only.
One of the most interesting trends over the past 12 months is the growth in popularity of premium and luxury brands. With people back at work, Aussie’s seemed to be splurging out by stocking up the wardrobes with the likes of Dolce and Gabbana, Dior, Armani, and Burberry as all three designers experienced significant traffic growth over the period.
This segment of the retail market had the highest growth in website traffic on average with premium shoe retailer Jimmy Choo skyrocketing 229% and swimwear and lifestyle brand Seafolly experiencing a 110% growth year on year.
In terms of the top retailers, Aussies had a preference for large trusted brands such as big-name department stores. This is reflected in the top 20 most-visited websites with retailers such as Bunnings, BIG W and Kmart featuring high in the list.
However, taking out the top two spots were online powerhouses eBay and Amazon; this could have been due to the retailers being long-time operators in the online delivery space as they obliterated the competition in terms of website traffic. eBay reigned supreme with more than 96 million visits on average each month, more than double the number of visits compared to Amazon.
In terms of brand search volume, it was travel websites that experienced a huge positive uptick nationally with Webjet, Rex Airlines and Cheap Flights all up more than 230% year on year as Aussies sought to satisfy their wanderlust with intrastate restrictions eased and travel bubble opportunities available.
Last year, the weekly food shop took on a whole new meaning with monstrous queues in store forcing many Aussies online. Woolworths was the most popular food retailer receiving more than 24 million visits on average each month whereas Coles paled in comparison with only 15 million on average over the last 12 months.
Interestingly, the biggest culprits for online food shoppers were younger females aged between 25 to 34 years. This may be due to the age group being more comfortable with online shopping, as the younger demographic are also among the biggest consumers of fashion ecommerce sites.
Unsurprisingly, tech featured prominently among the top retailers, but in terms of the nations preferred providers, it was Telstra and Microsoft over Apple and Vodafone with the former duo experiencing significantly more website traffic compared to the latter.
In my opinion, the unprecedented events of 2020 have transformed the Australian retail market for the better. It has forced many businesses to reconsider their approach to online, not only enabling many retailers to broaden their customer bases, but also enabling them to ensure longevity in trading while trade lockdowns are still very much an imminent reality.
Semrush analysed retailers which included single-brand retail websites as well as department stores and aggregate e-commerce websites. The data provider also analysed regional search data to find out what retailers were the most popular in each state/territory across Australia.
Semrush uses data that comes from its unique panel of over 200 million panelists worldwide and regions to determine search volume and website traffic estimates. Semrush is one of the most accurate tools on the market to aggregate this data.
Top online retailers in Australia
- eBay
- Amazon
- Bunnings
- Telstra
- Kmart
- Woolworths
- JB Hi-Fi
- Microsoft
- Big W
- Coles
Note: Retailers have been ranked based on average monthly website traffic over the past 12 months.
About Olga Adrienko
Olga Andrienko has expanded Semrush brand visibility worldwide, entering the markets of over 50 countries. In 2018 Olga was mentioned among the 25 most influential women in digital marketing by TopRank.
About Semrush
Semrush is an online visibility analysis platform that enables businesses to achieve measurable results in online marketing. Used by more than six million marketing professionals worldwide, Semrush offers solutions for SEO, PPC, content, social media and competitive research.