1-in-10 Australians now buy home products online
New research from Roy Morgan shows that Australians are increasingly turning to online channels. Now 10.4% of Australians buy home products such as furniture, homewares & manchester, home decorations (e.g. mirrors & artwork), plants & garden accessories or baby and nursery products online in an average three months – this is up 2.7% points from four years ago.
The increasing move online is across all five sub-categories of goods and led by the purchase of homewares & manchester now purchased by 4.9% of Australians online, up 1.2% points since 2014.
Online purchasing of home products has also increased for other categories including home decorations up by 0.7% points to 2.3%, baby & nursery products up by 0.6% points to 2.4%, furniture up by 1% point to 2.2% and plants & garden accessories up by 0.2% points to 1.5%.
Home products purchased online in an average three months – 2014 to 2019
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia) April 2014 – March 2019. Average interviews per year n=50,730. Base: Australians aged 14+.
Online home products shoppers tend to be well educated young Millennial mums
The ease of shopping online is well-known to an increasing number of Australians from all walks of life however by delving into the Roy Morgan data we are able to identify the quintessential Australian most likely to be found buying their home products online.
Over two-thirds of Australia’s online home products buyers are women and particularly Millennial women aged in their 30s or 40s. She’s more likely than the average Australian to be well-educated with a diploma or a degree and working full-time in a well-paying white collar job. The average household income for online home products buyers is well over $120,000 per year – a lucrative market for retailers.
Alternatively she may be taking a career break and on home duties with online home product buyers far more likely than the average Australian to have children aged under 12 years old. She’s likely to be a part of the upper AB or C socio-economic quintiles and part of the Socially Aware or Visible Achievement Roy Morgan Value Segments.
When it comes to shopping she’s far more likely than the average Australian to agree that ‘she was born to shop’, ‘go out of her way in search of a bargain’, ‘always ready to try new and different products’ and ‘often enter competitions which are on packets or labels on products’. Unsurprisingly she is far more likely than the average Aussie ‘to keep up-to-date with new ideas to improve her home’ and ‘can’t relax until she knows the house is clean & tidy’ and Yoga and Pilates are amongst her favourite activities.
Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says as more Australians get used to purchasing products online competition between traditional retailers and new entrants is hotting up although the winners aren’t always who you might think:
“Buying products online is an increasingly large part of the Australian retail landscape and those on the lookout for the latest home products to buy are increasingly following broader retail trends with over 10% of Australians now buying home products online in an average three months.
“This has increased by 2.7% points from four years ago driven by increases across the spectrum of home products categories including homewares & manchester, furniture, home decorations such as artworks and mirrors, plants & garden accessories and baby & nursery products.
“Although the first thought might be that these changes are being driven by purely online retail plays such as eBay and Amazon and that these are at the expense of traditional retailers a deeper look into the home products market shows that the market is growing and the big winner over the last five years is in fact traditional retailer Kmart.
“As we explored last week now a fifth of Australian home product buyers shop at Kmart and this is up an impressive 9.4% points from five years ago – far outstripping other traditional retailers as well as newer online entrants such as eBay which increased by only 0.6% points to 2.9% during the same period.
“The market leading performance of Kmart in an era in which ‘zero friction’ shopping is the goal for retailers looking to find new customers and retain existing customers shows that a traditional shopping experience can be successfully integrated with a well-developed online shopping portal to provide a seamless array of options for customers whether they are looking for an in-store experience or the ease of accessing online purchasing channels.
“Contact Roy Morgan to learn more about the purchasing habits of Australians whether online or in-store and why customers choose to shop at one retailer or another.”
Visit the Roy Morgan Online Store to learn more about People who have bought Homewares & Manchester Online.
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
