The percentage of online shoppers using Amazon.com.au has grown from 30% to 47% year-on-year with 30% citing lockdown as a reason why they had purchased from the marketplace, according to a new consumer poll from global ecommerce and marketplace specialist Pattern.
This is the second time Pattern has polled Australian shoppers to assess their attitudes to Amazon Australia and understand how lockdown has changed their shopping behaviour.
The findings support web traffic data from SimilarWeb, which shows monthly visits to Amazon Australia increased by 49.5% between February and July this year.
Pattern’s Amazon Australia Report 2020 found that 83% of the shoppers surveyed had visited Amazon.com.au in the past year, up from 80% in the 2019 survey.
However, the percentage buying has grown by more than 50% in that period; 10% of all shoppers said they had made purchases from Amazon as a direct result of lockdown, and 11% expect to buy even more from Amazon for the rest of 2020.
In 2019, more Australians were still buying from Amazon.com than the local Australian site but this has now flipped, with just 13% reporting they’d bought from the US site last year, down from 35%.
The report suggests that shoppers have positive sentiment towards Amazon with 27% agreeing that it helped shoppers during lockdown and 64% said the retail giant provides a wide variety of products.
Prime is also supporting Amazon Australia’s sales growth. Almost one in five (19%) online shoppers have access to their own or someone else’s Prime subscription with 18% of shoppers citing Prime as a reason they decided to make a purchase from the site (up from 11% in 2019). A further 14% said they were likely to sign up to Prime in the next year.
Pattern’s report also suggests that the shift to online shopping is a trend that is here to stay, with 65% of survey respondents buying more online in 2020, and 53% buying more online due to COVID-19.
Further, one third of shoppers predict that they would spend less on shopping for the rest of the year, but only 11% said they would spend less online. Meanwhile, 46% expect to buy more online than previously, and 45% expect to visit stores less, for the rest of 2020.
Interestingly, only 6% said they are buying from different physical stores because of the pandemic, but 27% changed the online retailers they have bought from. For the rest of 2020, 8% expect to buy from different physical stores than previously and 22% from different online stores.
Amazon Flex now available in Brisbane
Amazon Australia has also announced that its delivery service, Amazon Flex, is now available in Brisbane for people to be their own boss and earn extra money delivering Amazon packages to customers.
Amazon Flex was initially rolled out in Sydney and Melbourne in January this year and the expansion into Brisbane will enable Amazon to supplement its delivery capacity to speed up deliveries in Queensland.
Delivery partners who have their own car can sign-up, choose delivery blocks, usually around four hours, and deliver packages using the Amazon Flex app. They just need to complete a background verification process first. The estimated duration and minimum payment is known in advance and partners will receive weekly payments by direct deposit.
“We’re pleased to be able to offer hundreds of flexible earning opportunities to people in Brisbane at a time when they are more needed than ever,” Amazon Australia director of operations, Craig Fuller said.
“Our delivery partners tell us they enjoy the flexibility they have to schedule delivery blocks around their existing commitments. With greater control of when they work, Amazon Flex delivery partners are able to juggle this new normal with securing extra income.
“Expanding our Amazon Flex network into Brisbane gives us the ability to respond to peaks in customer demand, while providing our Brisbane customers more ways to get goods delivered directly to their doorstep. Our role in supporting the community during this time is an important one and we are committed to getting people the items they need, when they need them.”