Ecommerce Growth: A Year on from COVID – eStore Logistics

Sydney, Australia – 21 May 2021 – Data from ecommerce fulfilment provider, eStore Logistics, shows an 80% growth in online shopping orders in April this year when compared to a non-COVID year (2019). The data paints a picture that the pandemic has had a long-lasting impact on accelerating the online shopping habits of Australians.

Online shopping remains popular amongst consumers even though COVID-19 restrictions have eased drastically and physical stores, shopping centres, and high streets are open for business. In fact, there has been a 51% growth in online orders in the last 12 months, in comparison to the 12 months prior.

Ecommerce orders have slowed since the same time last year when most physical stores were shut and shoppers were buying online. In comparison to April last year, during peak lockdown, there has been a steady 9% decrease in online sales. This is not hugely significant considering the climate of April 2020.

Fashion however boomed by 44% in April this year in comparison to last showing that more people are buying clothes online now. This could largely be a result of shoppers having a greater need for a diversified wardrobe, with many saying bye to Zoom to head into the office, or parting with Netflix and UberEats to eat out with friends.

Home and renovation is also still booming YoY with 20% growth in online orders from this April to last. The category has seen incredible growth over the past year, with at least 100% YoY growth every month. A big reason for this is because border closures have inspired Australian families to use holiday budgets to renovate and buy items for their homes.

With fewer people doing the groceries online, not surprisingly, food and beverage are flattening dropping from 44% YoY growth earlier in the year to -1% this April. While this was common during the peak of the pandemic, we’re noticing that it’s becoming increasingly common for people to want to buy food in-store.

From April 2020 eStore Logistics has had to increase its storage and fulfilment by more than 20,000 square metres to accommodate the surge in ecommerce sales with plans to bring online at least a further 35,000 square metres before Christmas 2021.

Leigh Williams, Managing Director, eStore Logistics, said: “April last year was a really interesting time in the ecommerce world. We’ve never seen anything like it. It’s hard to imagine now most stores were closed, supermarket shelves were stripped bare in a state of panic buying and businesses were not able to operate without an online presence. This has had a profound impact on the industry and we can see that one year down the road. So many people who never shopped online before now can and do now.

When looking at YoY data and comparing this April to last it’s hard to get a good picture of how far the industry has come – last April was an insane fluke month. Data from eStore helps us look at the bigger picture and understand just how much the trend has accelerated over the past 12 months.”