Valerina Changarathil
June 26, 2013
The Advertiser
AUSTRALIA could become the mecca for online businesses with more web stores opening up and more average online spending here than anywhere else in the world, new research shows.
The research, released today, found there was a 200 per cent jump in the rate of new stores opening from 2010 to 2012.
Australian shoppers were also spendthrifts online, shelling out close to $142 per order last year – up from $118 in 2011 – compared with the global average of $116 per order.
The research by online systems and services provider Bigcommerce comes from an internal survey of 35,000 internet-based stores it has helped set up since 2009.
Bigcommerce said the stores have now sold $2 billion worth of goods and made 17.4 million transactions.
“Economists need look no further to prove that e-commerce is thriving,” Bigcommerce co-founder Eddie Machaalani said.
The research is backed by other recent reports, including NAB’s Online Retail Index, which showed Australians spent $12.8 billion shopping online last year, up by 23 per cent from 2011.
PayPal and eBay research estimates Australians spent $5.6 billion on purchases on mobile devices last year, up from $155 million in 2010.
South Australia-born microbiologist-turned online entrepreneur Brooke Sivendra set up Style Net.net, an online shopping directory for men’s, women’s and kids’ fashion, in 2010.
She has used social media channels Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram to turn it into a thriving business with 250 boutique Australian and international retailers that ship to Australia now paying her an annual fee and a sales cut to get access to her 18,000-strong online base of followers.
A contributor to Miranda Kerr’s Kora Organics website, Ms Sivendra has single-handedly worked her web business into a profit-making, $150,000 annual turnover venture.
“When I completed my nuclear medicine degree from UniSA, I wanted to do more than academics,” she said.
“Online shopping here has grown so much it was a perfect base. I have a lot of plans for Style Net, including bringing in bridal wear and adding in my own accessory lines,” she said.
The girl from small-town Cleve plans to wield the power of internet marketing to increase her retailer base to more than 600 by the end of next year as more followers log in.
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