Australia a prime market for online US retailers

More than a third of internet retailers in the US  rank Australia in their top three countries for generating online sales overseas, according to the organiser of the upcoming 2010 Online Retailer Expo & Conference, Mark Harvey.

Harvey said a “staggering” 36.8% of respondents to a recent survey by US media group Internet Retailer revealed that Australia was one their top three markets for overseas sales.

“What is more disturbing is the fact that some of these retailers admitted to winning this business without offering the necessary features and functions designed to cater for international shoppers,” he said.  

 “A whole new generation of consumers have taken control and are changing the game for the retail industry,” Harvey said. “With access to a wealth of information online, customers are speaking to us loud and clear by putting their credit cards on the line and transacting.”

Bing Lee head of e-commerce Peter Krideras said tech-savvy consumers are ”reluctantly” having to benefit international businesses because they were starved of brand choice.”

“The delay in Australian retailers embracing selling online has made it easy for overseas ventures to tap into the Australian market,” Krideras said.

“The quicker Australian organisations embrace the power of the web, the quicker we can capture this growing market ... before we lose more money overseas," he said.

According to IBISWorld, Australian online sales currently represent 5.5% of the country’s total retail sales, which is well below levels in the US and UK.

New research report on Australia

Harvey said a key session at this year’s Expo (July 6-9, Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre) will be the results from the first detailed report on the state of Australian online retailing, presented by Patti Freeman-Evans, a research director from Forrester Research in New York. 

“This will be the first time Australian retailers will have significant benchmarking data from which to draw from, marking a significant milestone in the advancement of the industry,” he said.