Online sales growth accelerates

Heather McIlvaine

5th Jun 2018

Online retail sales recorded another month of double-digit year-on-year (y/y) growth in April, up 17.9 per cent from this time last year, an acceleration from the 14.2 per cent y/y growth in March.

This is according to NAB’s Online Retail Sales Index, which measured $25.8 billion in online sales over the 12 months to April, totalling around 8.2 per cent of the traditional bricks-and-mortar sector.

Month-on-month (m/m) figures accelerated, up 1.4 per cent in April compared to 1.1 per cent in March.

All but two categories accelerated in sales growth in April 2018. Toys and games, which recorded the fastest growth in March, slowed in April, though it still showed 34.7 per cent y/y growth, along with food catering, which was up 9.3 per cent y/y in April.

The fastest growth was in department stores, which was up 25.5 per cent y/y. The much larger sales category, media, was up 23.5 per cent y/y, while the smallest spend share category, daily deals, also recorded double-digit growth, up 20.6 per cent y/y in April.

Grocery and liquor was up 18.9 per cent y/y, fashion was up 14.9 per cent y/y, homeware and appliances was up 14.8 per cent y/y and personal and recreational was up 13 per cent y/y.