Victoria fuels online shopping surge, domestic sellers doing well

Homegrown sellers outpaced global retailers as online shopping grew again in July to be up a massive 62pc on the year before.

Shopping from home: online sales have rocketed in the pandemic. Picture: iStock

Online retail sales accelerated in July, fuelled by a digital shopping surge in Victoria as Melbourne felt the impact of coronavirus lockdowns.

According to the NAB Online Retail Sales Index, July’s monthly online sales broke the previous record set in April, lifting 62.6 per cent compared to the same month a year ago.

On a month-on-month, seasonally-adjusted basis, online retail sales grew 6.7 per cent in July.

“Our NAB online retail sales index jumped in July, with strong monthly growth in Victoria contributing heavily to the result,” NAB chief economist Alan Oster said.

“While this data is prior to the stage four restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell shire, stage three was clearly impacting the July result.”

NAB now estimates that in the 12 months through to July, Australians spent $37.4 billion on online retail, up 28.6 per cent on the prior year.

Sales for domestic merchants had significantly outpaced international over the year, the survey found, accelerating in July from a mild increase in June. Meanwhile sales growth returned to international merchants following a contraction in the prior month.

Online sales growth was led by the games, toys and fashion categories, while grocery and liquor remained strong.

“Games and toys, fashion, and takeaway food all recorded double digit growth in the month,” Mr Oster said.

“Combined, these categories represent about a quarter of all online sales.

“These three categories have also been the most volatile over the past year, with periods of strong contraction in sales typically followed by a rapid rebound.”

The homewares and appliances category, which is the biggest category on the index representing about a quarter of all sales, grew at a moderate pace in July. Still, on year-on-year terms, the category is the fourth fastest and had contributed strongly to the headline result, Mr Oster said.