Australian consumers unconvinced about online retail giant Amazon
New Roy Morgan research into online retailer Amazon shows the shopping giant is well behind on several consumer indicators when compared to other major retail brands, such as Bunnings and Kmart.
People surveyed were asked ‘Which, if any, of the following statements do you associate with each store?’
When Australians were asked the statement ‘I’d consider shopping at’ a total of 26% say they would consider shopping with Amazon. This compares to 61% for Bunnings, 58% for Kmart, 56% for Big W, 51% for JB Hi-Fi and 35% for eBay.
People surveyed were also asked to name any store that ‘Has good quality products’. Only 14% say Amazon has good quality products. This compares to 47% for Bunnings, 25% for Kmart, 27% for Big W, 41% for JB Hi-Fi and 14% for eBay.
Those surveyed were also asked to name any store that ‘Has products that are good value for money’. Just 16% say Amazon has products that are good value for money. This compares with 44% for Bunnings, 44% for Kmart, 42% for Big W, 27% for JB Hi-Fi and 22% for eBay.
These findings are from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, Australia’s most trusted consumer survey, derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Australians each week and over 50,000 each year.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says that despite the high expectations surrounding Amazon’s relatively recent entry into the Australian market (following years as a U.S. retailer accessed by Australians), it appears as though the retailer has some work to do on its public perceptions.
“Given Amazon first entered the Australian market with a dedicated local store in 2017, it’s still early days for the online retailer. However, the consumer data we have on the company is underwhelming. On a variety of consumer indicators, Amazon is well behind brands such as Bunnings, Kmart, Big W, JB Hi-Fi, and to a lesser extent eBay,” Ms. Levine said.
The Roy Morgan data also shows which groups of Australians are most likely to consider shopping with Amazon. A greater proportion of males (28%) would consider shopping with the online retailer compared with females (24%).
A consistent proportion of each age group between the range of 14-49 would consider buying from Amazon. However, there is a steep drop off in the 50-64 and 65+ age groups.
“It isn’t surprising that older Australians aren’t terribly enthusiastic about buying from an online retailer that has only somewhat recently entered the market. What is interesting about this data is the consistency across other age groups.
“As an example, only a slightly higher proportion of those aged 18-24 would consider shopping with Amazon compared to those aged 35-49. Perhaps this data reflects an increasing proportion of the Australian population becoming comfortable with technological early adoption,” Ms. Levine said.
Proportion of Australians that name each of these stores when asked to associate stores with the following statements ‘I'd consider shopping at’, ‘Has good quality products’ and ‘Has products that are good value for money’
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, January 2019 – December 2019, n= 13,539. Base: Australians aged 14+.
Proportion of Australians who named Amazon when asked to name stores associated with the statement ‘I’d consider shopping at’
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, January 2019 – December 2019, n= 13,539. Base: Australians aged 14+.
View the Amazon Website Visitors Profile.
For comments or more information please contact:
Roy Morgan - Enquiries
Office: +61 (03) 9224 5309
askroymorgan@roymorgan.com
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 |
