eBay king of online shopping ahead of Gumtree, Amazon, Kogan & Groupon
Nearly 14 million Australians aged 14+ now visit online shopping or auction sites in an average four weeks – that’s nearly 70%. These are the latest results from Roy Morgan Single Source derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Australians each week, 50,000 each year.
Research conducted directly with real people is qualitatively and quantitatively more valuable than information drawn only through automated processes from web browsers and complicated algorithms. It’s the only way to learn how many real people – not bots, devices, clicks, or impressions – visit a site.
However, the figures show there is still a certain amount of ‘window-shopping’ even online as the latest research released by Roy Morgan last week shows around 9.5 million Australians (47%) actually purchase something online in an average four weeks.
This gap of over 4 million Australians who browse online shopping and auction sites but don’t follow through with an online purchase represents a huge opportunity for online shopping and auction sites to exploit.
eBay is easily Australia’s favourite online shopping or auction site with over 9.4 million Australians visiting the site in an average four weeks ahead of local Australian second-hand shopping site Gumtree with 5.6 million visitors. High profile American online retailer Amazon sits in third with 4.7 million visitors twice as many as fourth placed Kogan.com with nearly 2.3 million visitors.
Australia’s Top 15 Online Shopping & Auction sites – visitation in an average four weeks over 12 months to March 2018
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source: April 2017 – March 2018, n = 50,014 Australians aged 14+. Note: These visitation figures are not derived from cookies, device counts, impressions or clicks.
Other online shopping and auction sites to attract in excess of 1 million visitors in an average four weeks include Groupon with nearly 1.8 million visitors, Catch with over 1.2 million visitors and OzBargain with over 1.1 million visitors.
More women than men visit online shopping and auctions sites
Analysing the online shopping visitation by gender shows over 7 million women visit an online shopping or auction site in an average four weeks ahead of around 6.9 million men.
eBay is easily the top online shopping site for both women and men although it is visited by more men than women – nearly 4.9 million men in an average four weeks compared to 4.5 million women.
Gumtree is clearly the second-most visited online shopping or auction site for both genders. Over 2.9 million men and over 2.7 million women visit the site in an average four weeks.
Amazon is the third-most visited online shopping site for both genders with little difference between the genders. Just over 2.3 million women and a similar number of men visit Amazon in an average four weeks.
However, after the top three online shopping and auction sites there are significant gender differences between several other leading online shopping and auction sites.
Significantly more women than men visit Groupon, Catch, MyShopping, Scoopon and LivingSocial while significantly more men than women visit Kogan.com, OzBargain and GraysOnline.
Australia’s Top 10 Online Shopping & Auction sites – visitation in an average four weeks over 12 months to March 2018 by Gender
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source: April 2017 – March 2018, n = 50,014 Australians aged 14+.
Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says online shopping in Australia is booming (led by eBay, Gumtree, Amazon, Kogan.com and Groupon), but there are still millions of consumers not visiting online shopping sites at all, and over 3 million that browse but don’t purchase:
“Nearly 14 million Australians now visit online shopping or auction sites in an average four weeks including over 7 million women and 6.9 million men. However the latest research shows around 9.5 million Australians follow through and purchase something online in an average four weeks.
“The gap between these figures shows there is a large cohort of well over 4 million Australians who visit online shopping websites led by eBay, Gumtree, Amazon, Kogan.com, Groupon, Catch, OzBargain and others who don’t follow through and make the purchase.
“These online ‘window-shoppers’ represent a huge audience of Australians who are already living in the online world but haven’t taken the final plunge to purchase through the online shopping channels they know exist.
“Much has been made of US online giant Amazon’s new Australian-based website late last year but it is auction site eBay that is clearly the most popular online shopping site visited by Australians. Over 9.4 million Australians visit eBay in an average four weeks compared to around 5.6 million visiting Gumtree and more than twice as many as the 4.7 million Australians that visit Amazon.
“However, Amazon’s decision to operate an Australian-based website means the world’s largest online retailer is sure to mount a serious challenge to eBay’s pre-eminent position amongst online shopping sites in Australia in the coming years.
“Most other leading online shopping sites in Australia are based around providing ‘bargains’ and great value deals for shoppers. Over 1 million Australians visit online shopping bargain websites such as Groupon, Catch and OzBargain in an average four weeks.
“The nature of these ‘bargain-based’ websites attracts many Australians to browse the bargains on offer, but, as our overall figures show, a significant proportion of Australians visiting online shopping sites do not follow through with a purchase.
“Roy Morgan Single Source combined with the psychographic segmentation provider by Helix Personas provides online retailers with the unique information required to precisely target and understand who is online shopping in Australia, which online shopping websites they are visiting, and where they are purchasing from.
“The power of Roy Morgan Single Source is derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews conducted with over 1,000 Australians each week, and over 50,000 per year. Research conducted directly with real people is qualitatively and quantitatively more valuable than information drawn only through automated processes from web browsers and complicated algorithms. It’s the only way to learn how many real people – not bots, devices, clicks, or impressions – visit a site.”
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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 |
