New research has found that Australians are buying an item from British online fashion retailer Asos every six seconds.
The findings released by Roy Morgan Research and Asos also found that Australia is the companies largest market outside the United Kingdom.
Women are the biggest spenders accounting for 67.6 percent of all Australian purchases made from the website.
In a separate Roy Morgan Research report released at the end of 2012 it was found that 32.9 percent of Australians are buying something online every month and figures like these are worrying for traditional Australian bricks and mortar retailers.
Head of strategy and marketing at one of the nations largest jeanswear retailers, Neuw Denim and Rollas Jeans, Katy Oakley said all traditional retailers are trying to build their online presence but her company does not see Asos as a competitor.
“Our bigger strategy works towards building compelling brand and these days you can’t do that without having an online presence,” she said.
“People who shop for our products online are repeat customers who come to us out of loyalty, or have walked into a store and wanted to stick with the brand. Therefore we don’t see Asos as a direct competitor to our brand,” she said.
Research released by Knight Frank Commercial and Residentail Real Estate attributes factors like the online shopping boom for high vacancy rates on High Street shopping strips like Bridge Road in Richmond.
Yarra City councillor Misha Coleman said that the online market was an issue for traditional retailers on Bridge Road but it is a problem retailers across the whole of Melbourne faced.
Councillor Coleman added that the council along with the Bridge Road Traders Association are working on a number of measures to bring traditional retailers back to the High Street.
For consumers like shopaholic Sara James the convenience of clicking away at home outweighs hitting her local high street or shopping centre.
“I still like to go shopping and have a coffee with my girlfriends from time to time but it’s always a pain trying to find a park and dealing with the crowds. I much prefer to the convenience of sitting in my bed and shopping online,” Miss James said.
“The thing I love about Asos is that it’s really on trend but it’s cheap at the same time. The added bonus is the delivery is free and they usually deliver within three days,” she said.
Picture:joan!ta/Flickr
Percentage of Australians shopping online as of 2012.
