Press Releases

Aussies and Kiwis Buy Local as Dollar Weakens

New Insight into Australia and New Zealand Online Buying Habits

Melbourne, 9 January 2009 – Coremetrics, a leader in digital marketing solutions, today revealed that Australian and New Zealand online consumers are slowing spending and preferring to shop on home-grown sites, as the local dollar plunged during the quarter ending December 2008.

The conversion rate for online sales in Australia and New Zealand has dropped to just 2.9 and 2.5 orders per 100 online sessions respectively, compared with 4.4 and 4 respectively between the months of April and June 2008.

Kevin Mackin, general manager for Coremetrics, ANZ, believes this change in behaviour is a clear indication that online consumers are feeling the pinch of the exchange rate when considering buying online from overseas websites. “ANZ online consumers are definitely more cautious in their spending at the moment and are looking for bargains closer to home. That said, both countries are experiencing the next highest conversion rates behind the US.”

ANZ consumers may be purchasing less frequently than when the dollar was stronger, but they’re still significantly ahead of their UK and Singapore counterparts. The conversion rate for Singapore is 0.9 orders per 100 online sessions and 1.4 for the UK, both well below the world average of 3.2 orders per 100 online sessions.

“I think this data shows that Aussies and Kiwis are consistently relying on the net for shopping alternatives even during tough times,” Kevin Mackin continued. “While we might be spending slightly less time browsing and viewing less pages, the survey results show that ecommerce is a vital sales channel for many businesses today. Even when the chips are down service providers and retailers need to constantly look for ways to engage customers and close sales online.”

The recent study undertaken by Coremetrics looked at the trends of ecommerce users across the UK, USA, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. Consumer activity was collated and analysed from more than 80 million web sessions and 750 million page views, which included 2.7 million orders collectively valued at more than 200 million US Dollars.

Results at a glance:
Coremetrics eCommerce by Geography Study: October – December 2008

  Global Average   Australia   New Zealand   US   UK   Singapore  
  Average session length 5:04mins   5:46   5:39   6:01   5:30   5:24  
                           
  Page views per session 9.0   7.1   7.4   9.5   6.2   7.4  
                           
  Average order value US$81.26   $37.86   $38.79   $77.94   $70.90   $98.22  
                           
  Orders per 100 sessions 3.2   2.9   2.5   3.8   1.4   0.9  

 

Coremetrics Benchmarking
The data in this study came from an extension of the Coremetrics benchmarking capability. Coremetrics Benchmark™ is the industry’s only peer-level benchmarking solution that measures online marketing results, including commerce data, against those of the competition. More than 300 leading online retailers, representing approximately US$20 billion in revenues annually, contribute their analytics data to Benchmark. All data is aggregated and anonymised. See http://www.coremetrics.com/solutions/industry-report.php for the latest
Coremetrics Benchmark™ Industry Report.

About Coremetrics
Coremetrics is the leading provider of digital marketing optimisation solutions. Its solutions generate high return on online marketing investment and continue to pay daily dividends in improved marketing performance. Over 1,200 online business sites, transacting over $15 billion this year, are now using Coremetrics’ Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to optimise online marketing efforts. Coremetrics’ solutions encompass advanced online analytics and precision marketing applications, including search engine bid management, email marketing and cross sell applications to acquire customers more cost effectively, increase conversion rates, and increase lifetime customer value. The company is privately held with funding from 3i, Accel Partners, FTVentures and Highland Capital Partners, is headquartered in San Mateo, California and competes with Omniture and Webtrends. In Australia, Coremetrics is based in Melbourne. To learn more about Coremetrics, visit www.coremetrics.com.au or call (Aus) 1800-69-CORE or (NZ) 0800-69-CORE.

Coremetrics has strongly supported online privacy since its inception. To learn more, visit www.coremetrics.com/privacy.

Media and Analyst Enquires:
Frances Ward
Solid Ink Communications
Tel: +61 (0)413 789 335
Email: frances.ward@solidink.com.au

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