Posties flat-out as shoppers embrace online

Australian shoppers have made a big shift online during the coronavirus pandemic.

Australian shoppers have made a big shift online during the coronavirus pandemic, with Australia Post delivering 26 million more parcels this year and internet retail spending up more than 63 per cent.

A Deloitte Access Economics report into Australia Post’s activities during COVID-19 found a $2.4bn boom in e-commerce powered by more food, liquor and homeware parcels.

The study found Australia Post delivered an extra 23.3 million normal parcels compared with 2019 as well as two million more express packages, and an extra one million parcels through couriers and transport company StarTrack.

The data comes as Australia Post’s half-year profits fell 46 per cent and households are to receive letters every second day into 2021.

 

Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate has leapt on the Deloitte report before her appearance at a Senate hearing on Wednesday, saying her service has kept small and medium retail businesses afloat. “It’s very clear Australia Post has played a critical role in keeping the country running during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Not only have we supported business to trade online, for every three workers employed by Australia Post another two jobs in other businesses and industries have been supported, many in small and medium businesses,” Ms Holgate told The Australian.

“I’m so proud of the way we have stepped up and kept many Australian businesses alive. Australia Post really has become the ‘BusinessKeeper’ of the national economy. This new analysis underlines the fundamental role Australia Post plays in connecting communities and businesses across Australia.”

Online retail spending in Australia was $7.5bn between March and May this year, compared with $4.5bn in the same period in 2019.

In April, online retail spending spiked 76 per cent compared to the previous year as both NSW and Victoria went into lockdown.

Deliveries of food and liquor were up 159.5 per cent compared to last year, and homeware deliveries increased by 93 per cent.

Evans Shoes owner Richard Evans has seen his family footwear business in Echuca on the Victorian border move 85 per cent of its trade online, which has kept the company founded by his great-grandfather going through COVID-19. “We didn’t see any ­effect until the third week of March and then we immediately noticed the downturn. My great grandfather started this business, we’re based in a smallish town, things just collapsed,” he said.

“We didn’t have any traditional dollars coming in. But then online sales went up in the month of April — 85 per cent of trade was online.

“We were a late player to the online business and you have to work at it. We have two people whose jobs are devoted to marketing online.

“I did the mail run the other day. And it’s amazing how our parcels are going out all around the country now. It’s been a big shift.”

Deloitte Access Economics partner John O’Mahony said ­regional businesses in particular were benefiting from the boom in online shopping.

“Consumer behaviour has changed as a result of this health and economic crisis. Businesses and individuals have had to adapt drastically to a changing climate,” he told The Australian.

“With many stores closed or having limited physical operations, consumers have shifted to online purchases, resulting in changes to delivery networks.’’