The coronavirus pandemic has brought a huge shift into Australian’s online shopping behaviour. Consumers, amidst strict lockdown, have turned to online marketplaces such as Catch for their essential needs. Leveraging this paradigm shift, we channelled online traffic by promoting essentials like groceries and household products.
Having recorded an overall resurgence in sales in categories such as fashion, accessories, sports and outdoors, we saw it was due to the significant growth in the number of active customers in the past few months. So, while the foot-traffic has fallen, sellers on our marketplace are taking advantage of this “virtual” department store to increase their turnover.
By adopting a robust omnichannel approach to their eCommerce strategy, we’ve seen sellers achieving growth in this uncertain period. Highlighting their success as a refurbished phone and tablet retailer on Catch, Michael Karim from Green Gadgets Australia advised, “In the past 12 months we have sold over 7,600 devices valued at $2.7M+ [on Catch]. This was a significant increase from the previous 12 months.”
To help navigate a sudden surge in online shopping, we assisted sellers in ensuring to meet the demands of its 2 million active customers shopping across thousands of categories online.
The future of eCommerce Post the Coronavirus Chaos
As consumers acclimatize to online shopping as their new normal, the future of eCommerce appears to be soaring. Forecasts suggest an expected boom in online retail in Australia, similar to the growth post the global financial crisis in 2008, where online sales doubled in just 4 years. A recent KPMG report on COVID -19: Retail’s Survival and Revival suggests that the future can be divided into two waves.
While we’re currently in the first wave, we know it comes as the result of switching from physical to online channels due to public space shutdowns. The second wave is the growth of online retail due to permanent changes in shopping behaviour.
As we begin to move into the second phase, “Retailers with truly omni-channel experiences will be best positioned to benefit during the early recovery period.” says the report (KPMG, 2020). Looking to international counterparts such as the UK, where online retail makes up approximately 20% of all retail sales, it is not hard to see what the potential is, and that Australian eCommerce is now in an acceleration phase.
To benefit from this new behaviour, retailers can tap into the ready audience that we provide. By joining forces with a platform like Catch, sellers can accelerate brand growth and make sure that their products are placed where the customers are shopping.
Catch.com.au and the Future of eCommerce for Australia
Over the last 14 years, Catch has become a household name in Australia. With over two million products available on Catch.com.au, Australians shop on our platform as a convenient “one-stop-shop”.
Through our marketplace, we offer a curated range of great products at irresistible prices, across categories such as home, electronics, fashion, groceries, beauty, pet (and more). Approved sellers on the platform receive the benefit of hands-on account management, technical support and tailor-made promotional opportunities.
Retailers selling on Catch access millions of loyal customers with the assurance that the company is backed by Wesfarmers, Australia’s largest retail group.
Guest blogpost written by Talia Lederman & Shaiva Pandya, Catch.com.au
