Traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores in Australia have surged in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic, with Australians preferring to shop in-store across most product categories including apparel, personal care and household goods.
- Australians rate the online shopping experience better, and return more items purchased in-store than online.
- The findings are from the annual Retail Monitor survey of 1,000 Australian shoppers from the Australian Consumer and Retail Studies (ACRS) unit in the Monash Business School.
The Highlights: Key findings of the ACRS report:
- Clothing, footwear and accessories was the top product category for returns across both purchase channels, with 66% of shoppers saying they’ve returned apparel purchased in-store, and 61% saying they’ve returned apparel purchased online.
- Online shopping rates more favourably in key attributes — product availability, product ranges and sales and promotions.
- 66% of shoppers have returned an item they bought in-store whereas only 42% returned an item they bought online
- Over a third of Australian shoppers (72%) have returned an item they purchased from either physical or online stores.
- 70% of Australians purchased clothing, footwear and accessories in-store or online in the three months to September 2022, on par with early 2020 (also 70%).
The report also found that despite their preference for in-store shopping, Australians rate the in-store shopping experience lower than that of online, particularly on key attributes like product availability, product ranges and sales and promotions. The overall physical shopping experience was rated 4 points lower than online, product availability rated 18 points lower, and both product ranges and sales and promotions each rated 11 points lower.
- Over half of consumers (58%) said return options are one of the most important factors when making a purchase, only coming in behind price-related factors, and quality and customer service.
- Over a third of Australian shoppers (72%) returned an item they purchased from a physical or online store.
What They Said:
During COVID-19, online became the main non-grocery retail channel out of necessity and the majority of Australian shoppers turned to online methods, a trend which was accelerated by the pandemic. We’re now seeing the return of a preference for physical stores and shoppers are moving between the offline and online worlds more seamlessly than ever before.
— Eloise Zoppos
Principal Research Consultant
Australian Consumer and Retail Studies
