How Fraser Coast residents spent money online in December

Online food and alcohol purchases proved the fastest growing for the Fraser Coast during December.

Online food and alcohol purchases proved the fastest growing for the Fraser Coast during the recent December period.

Online food and alcohol purchases proved the fastest growing for the Fraser Coast during the recent December period.

Australia Post acting chief executive officer and managing director Rodney Boys said there was no denying that online shopping grew strongly through 2020.

But it reached a new level in the last month of the year as millions of people chose to buy their Christmas gifts online, he said.

According to Australia Post figures, the Fraser Coast saw online shopping grow 46.5 per cent year-on-year compared to 37.8 per cent for the whole of Queensland.

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Hervey Bay was the town to record the highest number of online purchases, almost doubling year-on-year.

The most popular for the region were fashion and apparel or goods purchased from variety stores, which combined made up almost 60 per cent of all online goods purchased in December.

But the fastest growing category was specialty food and liquor purchases which grew 73.9 per cent year-on-year.

Hobbies and recreational goods also increased and accounted for more than 10 per cent of all online purchases in Fraser Coast.

It comes as Australia Post recorded its biggest month ever in its 211-year history, with more than 52 million parcels delivered during December.

Mr Boys said the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, social distancing, reduced domestic flights coupled with significantly higher parcel volumes meant delivering Christmas was "always going to be incredibly challenging".

Australia Post opened 60 new or re-purposed facilities, added 3300 vehicles and put on additional planes.

Mr Boys said 2700 posties also undertook additional training and over 2000 transitioned to deliver parcels in vans and an extra 5000 people were recruited.

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