Australians yet to embrace online grocery shopping

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Dec-16

Roy Morgan Research’s latest State of the Nation Retail Spotlight report revealed that Australian grocery buyers made more than 2.5 trips per week to supermarkets in 2015-16, or 1.95 billion trips for the year. And despite the ever-increasing popularity of online retail, the vast majority of Australians continue to do their grocery shopping in-store rather than online. A Roy Morgan Single Source survey, which was carried out in the year to June 2015, found that 26% of Australians agreed that "I’d consider doing some of my grocery shopping on the Internet in the next 12 months". However, just 3% of grocery buyers did their supermarket shopping online in any given four-week period during the following 12 months. Admittedly, this is an increase on 2011 (when it was 1.4%), but it is unlikely that there will be a mass exodus to online grocery shopping any time soon.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSSIE FARMERS DIRECT, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, CATCH GROUP PTY LTD, GROCERY RUN, INDO-ASIAN GROCERY STORE

What’s in store for The Store? Fairfax readers spend big in the $2.6billion online retail clothing market

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 29-Nov-16

As detailed in Roy Morgan’s latest State of the Nation report, Australia’s online shopping market is now worth an estimated $41.3billion per year. In the 12 months to September 2016, the Cross-Platform Audiences for Fairfax’s three leading mastheads were all more likely than average to shop online – and spent more when they did. The result is that Fairfax readers contribute far more than their fair share to the online shopping market. Some 21% of Australians (aged 14+) read the "Sydney Morning Herald" in print and digital, but this audience contributes 33% of all money spent online. Likewise, 15% read "The Age", but 20% of online shopping dollars come from them. Meanwhile, 7% read the "Australian Financial Review", but their value to the online shopping market is almost double, at 13%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, THE STORE

State of the Nation 26: Australian Retail Industry

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 25-Nov-16

Roy Morgan Research CEO Michele Levine has presented the latest State of the Nation Report, with a special Spotlight on Australian Retail. The State of the Nation Report looks at the "invasion" of overseas retailers like H&M, ALDI, Costco, Zara – and in 2017 online giant Amazon, the battle for the online shopping dollar across a range of categories, the vital importance to retailers of properly identifying their customers and the desire of many consumers to have an increasingly "frictionless" retail experience. Levine says that although overall spending on discretionary commodities declined slightly, by 2%, over the past year, retailers are in fact more confident about the future now than they were a year ago – although it appears this very confidence is helping to attract more and more international retailers to "attack" what they perceive as the "rich pickings" available in Australia.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, HENNES OCH MAURITZ AB, ALDI EINKAUF GMBH & CO OHG, COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION, ZARA, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, UNIQLO COMPANY LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, DELIVEROO, FOODORA, UBEREATS, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, DICK SMITH HOLDINGS LIMITED, MASTERS HOME IMPROVEMENT AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Fat margin retailers must fear Amazon

Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 24-Nov-16

Roy Morgan Research CEO Michele Levine says Australian retailers with high margins, a large market share and growing online sales will be most vulnerable if Amazon enters the domestic market. Levine, who has presented Roy Morgan’s latest "State of the Nation" report on the retail sector, adds that Aldi and other international grocery chains with physical stores are a greater risk to Coles and Woolworths in the near-term, as most people still do not buy groceries online. Likewise, the low margins of consumer electronics retailers such as JB Hi-Fi means they are less vulnerable to competition from Amazon.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, LIDL GMBH & CO KG, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, BABY BUNTING GROUP LIMITED – ASX BBN, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, DAVID JONES LIMITED, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Westpac refunds $20m over credit card transaction fees

Original article by Clancy Yeates
The Age – Page: 21 : 9-Sep-16

Some 820,000 credit card customers of Westpac will be reimbursed after being charged foreign transaction fees on purchases via offshore merchants that were made in Australian dollars. The banking major has issued about $A20m worth of refunds after the Australian Securities & Investments Commission found that it had neglected to inform customers that such transactions would attract a so-called "foreign transaction fee". Westpac has also updated its terms and conditions.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

eBay is Australia’s top shopping website but OzBargain’s community forum is the fastest growing

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Sep-16

More Australians than ever are shopping online. A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 7.8 million Australians aged 14+ visited eBay in an average four weeks in the 12 months to June 2016 – more than double its nearest competitor Amazon (3.8 million). Kogan.com and Groupon reach just over 1.3 million visitors each. OzBargain is Australia’s fastest-growing shopping-related website, now with 948,000 unique monthly visitors.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, EBAY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND PTY LTD, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, KOGAN.COM LIMITED – ASX KGN, GROUPON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SCOOPON.COM.AU PTY LTD, CATCH-OF-THE-DAY.COM.AU, OZBARGAIN, LIVINGSOCIAL, DEALSDIRECT.COM.AU PTY LTD, GRAYSONLINE AUCTIONEERS, CUDO PTY LTD, DEALS.COM.AU PTY LTD, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, LASOO PTY LTD, SPREETS PTY LTD

SurfStitch class action looms over briefings

Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 28 : 14-Jun-16

The disclosure practices of online retailer SurfStitch are under scrutiny in the wake of a large share price fall that reduced its market capitalisation by $A500m. The stock fell by 53 per cent to $A0.48 in early May 2016, in response to a profit downgrade. There had also been heavy selling in the previous week, after the group held private briefings for some shareholders. Glenn McGowan, a partner at law firm Gadens, may launch a class-action on behalf of SurfStitch shareholders.

CORPORATES
SURFSTITCH GROUP LIMITED – ASX SRF, GADENS LAWYERS, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, STAB, MAGICSEAWEED, GARAGE ENTERTAINMENT, SURF HARDWARE INTERNATIONAL PTY LTD

Over half Australia’s online clothing dollars now stay local – but men still buying more from overseas

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-May-16

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that Australians aged 14+ spent an estimated $A2,414m on men’s and women’s clothing online in the year to December 2015. Australia-based sites (whether online-only stores or the web-stores of traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers) accounted for $A1,366m (56 per cent) of this expenditure, while $A1,048m (44 per cent) went overseas. The survey also shows that women spent over $A1bn on clothes through Australian online stores in 2015, compared with $A550m on international sites. Conversely, Australian men favour international sites for clothes shopping – although their total expenditure is only around half of that of women.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Booktopia pushes ahead with plans for $150m IPO

Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 30-Mar-16

Australian online book retailer Booktopia may pursue a sharemarket float in the second half of 2016. CEO Tony Nash says the bulk of proceeds from the proposed IPO will be used to finance Booktopia’s expansion plans and invested in its supply chain processes. Booktopia’s sales are forecast to exceed $A100m in 2017, and Nash is not unduly concerned about competition from The Book Depository, which is owned by Amazon.

CORPORATES
BOOKTOPIA PTY LTD, THE BOOK DEPOSITORY LIMITED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, BOOKWORLD, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, ORD MINNETT GROUP LIMITED, MORGANS FINANCIAL LIMITED, TEMPLE AND WEBSTER GROUP LIMITED – ASX TPW, SURFSTITCH GROUP LIMITED – ASX SRF, IBISWORLD PTY LTD

Aussies spent $2.5 billion online in 2015 on tickets to shows, films and events – 40% was by women aged 35+

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-Mar-16

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that Australians aged 14+ spent an estimated $A2.5bn buying tickets to shows, movies and events via the internet in the year to December 2015. The 35-49 age group clicked to buy more than a billion dollars’ worth of entertainment tickets in 2015, while those aged 50+ bought $A810m worth of tickets online, which accounts for 32 per cent of the market. Meanwhile, the 25-34 age group spent $A354m on tickets online (14 per cent of the market), and those aged 14-24 spent $A279m (11 per cent of the overall market).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED