Amazon up there with Bunnings and booze for online shopping searches

New research shows that Australians are turning to well-known retailers and US heavyweight Amazon as they increasingly look for goods online.

Basketball star Patty Mills shopping in Bunnings. Research shows Bunnings was the most searched retail website in Australia. Picture: Luke Currie-Richardson

Consumers stuck at home are letting their internet search engines do the walking for them as searches for retailers and key shopping phrases spike and retailers react by pivoting their advertising outlay to search advertising.

Data collected by SEMrush shows massive increases in visits to leading websites such as liquor specialist Dan Murphy’s, up 76 per cent on certain days, and the most searched retail website in Australia belonging to hardware chain Bunnings.

Other retailers that featured in the top 10 visits since the coronavirus pandemic emerged in Australia include Amazon, followed by Woolworths, Kmart, JB Hi-Fi, Big W and Coles.

According to data harvested by SEMrush, furnishings and craft retailer Spotlight had a 61 per cent uptick in online traffic, while online marketplace Catch, bought last year by Wesfarmers, received Christmas-level traffic during phase one of the COVID-19 lockdown while Ikea and Chemist Warehouse also showed big traffic increases.

In terms of retail categories specific products that saw huge traffic included exercise equipment, plants and tobacco.

With pubs, clubs and hotels closed for months due to the health crisis it wasn’t surprising that searches for Dan Murphy’s rose strongly. Many liquor companies also tweaked their marketing strategies and tailored their search advertising around “drink to survive isolation” and “keep the drinks flowing in iso” to keep consumers buying their brand when they search online for alcohol.

Online liquor retailers like Hellodrinks and Tipple and established players such as BWS and Dan Murphy’s all ratcheted up their search advertising.

SEMrush spokeswoman Laura Morelli said retail searches picked up strongly from the initial stages of COVID-19 and households went into lockdown.

“When it comes to see how top retailers are stacking up in 2020 we were able to track consumer trends by looking at online searches over the past year and the noticeable difference was the peaks in lockdown,’’ she said.

“We saw major spikes in the months of March onwards.’’

“People have been investing more in their homes, categories like furniture, outdoor supplies for home improvements or gadgets and tech to enhance their lifestyle while in lockdown.’’

A number of retailers reported strengthened online sales since March with home furnishings retailer Adairs saying its online sales rocketed 221 per cent since its stores closed in April and Australians were told to stay home because of COVID-19. Last week, jeweller Michael Hill reported digital sales for the fourth quarter were up 193 per cent.