Australia has been ranked the 10th best e-commerce market in the world by global management consulting firm AT Kearney, following a boost to the country’s online sales figures of 9% in 2014.
The 2015 Global Retail E-Commerce Index places Australia behind the United States, China and the UK, but ahead of Canada, Hong Kong and Sweden in terms of its e-commerce presence. Australia last year ranked 9th but has slipped a place this year as European countries made significant progress in the last 12 months.
Australia’s strongest performing e-commerce categories were department and variety stores (33% of sales), homewares and appliances (17%), and groceries and liquor (15%).
In a global context, online sales grew 20% worldwide in 2014, to nearly $1.4 trillion.
The index measures nine variables to determine the world’s best e-commerce countries, including macroeconomic factors, consumer adoption of technology, shopping behaviours, infrastructure, and retail-specific activities.
|
Country |
Rank |
Change in rank versus 2013 |
|
United States |
1 |
+2 |
|
China |
2 |
-1 |
|
United Kingdom |
3 |
+1 |
|
Japan |
4 |
-2 |
|
Germany |
5 |
+1 |
|
France |
6 |
+1 |
|
South Korea |
7 |
-2 |
|
Russia |
8 |
+5 |
|
Belgium |
9 |
+15 |
|
Australia |
10 |
-1 |
Kirsten Robb is a former journalist at SmartCompany. Previously, she worked at News Corp as a property reporter for Leader Newspapers and the Herald Sun, and holds a Masters of Journalism at Melbourne University.
