Loyalty, sales and speedy shipping.
What’s important to your Australian customers?
With 1 in 7 Australians making online weekly purchases, international e-tailers can position themselves to take advantage of rapid e-commerce growth. Is this market right for you? If so, how can you compete with homegrown businesses and secure customer retention?
If you’ve been thinking about dipping your toe in the warm shores of the Australian e-commerce market, you might be onto something. Australia boasts a strong economy, a highly skilled workforce and the eleventh biggest e-commerce market in the world. What’s more, 28% of Australian’s purchased products from international sellers in 2022, and 14% of those were UK sales.
Which products sell in Australia?
Clothes and shoes have long been at the top of online shopping lists in Australia, especially amongst 18-26 year olds, according to Australia Post. Generations Y, X and Boomers all shop for the home and garden, however Gen Y (ages 27-43), are also fond of their specialty food and liquor.
Could your product be of special interest? According to a recent study by Forbes, fabric, yarn, lipstick, pimple patches, scented candles, press-on nails, beads, vinyl records, hair oil, portable charges, false eyelashes, fake tan and craft supplies are all popular on the Australian e-commerce market right now, and that’s to name a few.
How to secure e-commerce customers in Australia?
Having the right products, however, isn’t always enough. Being able to reach your audience and build enough of an identity to rival stiff local competition is key to cultivating overseas e-commerce success.
According to Australia Post these are some of the emerging e-commerce trends to look out for in 2024:
Loyalty programmes
Eighty percent of SME businesses with loyalty programmes in Australia said their loyalty programme customers spent more than their regular customers. Companies like MECCA who have developed the Beauty Loop rewards system, which sends free packages to its customers throughout the year and on birthdays, has seen rapid growth.
Sales Events
Another tip, according to Australia Post, is to lean heavily into sales events. Specific dates like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day are becoming increasingly popular in Australia. Black Friday, especially, saw an 88% leap in online sales last year compared with 2019.
Speedy shipping
Customers are becoming more impatient and 68% of Australian shoppers are likely to abandon their cart if they feel your delivery method is too slow. As an international seller you will be unable to compete with the next day deliveries that some Australian retailers can promise, however, having a clear delivery date advertised on your website will help to get those sales over the line.
How easy is it to ship to Australia?
With delivery times being high on the agenda in consumer minds, you will want to ensure that you can deliver down under as quickly as possible. Having a reliable delivery service in place will also help to secure loyalty (not every customer expects free offers, a consistently reliable service works well enough).
If you ship with a trusted shipping partner, like SAMOS, your item will arrive between four to six working days. You will be able to track your parcel at every stage and supply your customer with complete transparency over their parcel’s whereabouts.
How much does it cost to ship to Australia? Will it be expensive?
With around 10,000 miles between us, you would be shrewd to consider the cost implications of shipping to Australia. However, with a regular shipping partner, you can keep costs to a minimum.
SAMOS can deliver an item weighing up to a kilo for as little as £13.71, for example. Our service guarantees one price and no surcharges. Importantly, your customer will never be asked to pay any unexpected duty, customs or local handling fees on the doorstep. Instead, this will be communicated to you and charged separately.
Plus, SAMOS now provides a fully managed returns service portal so your customers can organise a return in just three clicks. Another rising trend in Australia is seeing retailers providing easy and transparent returns – this not only ensures customer satisfaction but fosters brand loyalty in the long run.
Shipping to Australia can be simple and cost effective. For more information or for a no obligation quote, get in touch with SAMOS today.
