Australia’s delivery company CouriersPlease (CP) has analysed its own parcel delivery data and has published the top 10 suburbs for online shopping volumes in 2022, and top 10 suburbs with the fastest growth in online shopping
Parcel delivery volumes are a good barometer of online shopping volumes. CP delivers more than 20 million parcels a year to online shoppers throughout Australia for retailers such as Myer, Target and Forever New. Since early 2020, CP experienced an exponential and continuing growth in parcel volumes. In the 2021 December quarter, CP received 30 per cent more parcels than in the 2020 December quarter.
Chief Transformation Officer Jessica Ip says: “Even with Australia relaxing pandemic restrictions, our own volumes indicate that, for many, online shopping was a behaviour formed during restrictions and will remain. Research shows that in 2021, 68 per cent of Australians shopped online for non-essentials. Even after the pandemic, 50 per cent plan to use online as their main shopping channel, up from 32 per cent pre-pandemic, while 50 per cent intend to shop in-store, down from 68 per cent pre-pandemic.[1]
The top 10 suburbs for online shopping in Australia in 2022
Based on 2021 parcel delivery volumes, Jessica forecasts this year’s top 10 suburbs for online goods purchases. She says: “With Melbourne living through 109 days of lockdown in 2021, it’s no surprise that its suburbs make up eight of the top 10. Even with Melbourne now open, the lingering ripple effect of lockdowns is that residents may be far more conscious of infection risks and are likely to continue shopping online. Melbourne’s suburbs will continue to top the list in 2022.”
- Melbourne (3000)
- Truganina (3029)
- Pakenham (3810)
- Berwick (3806)
- Point Cook (3030)
- Sunbury (3429)
- Sydney (2000)
- Adelaide (5000)
- Reservoir (3073)
- Frankston (3199)
The 10 Australian suburbs that will see the biggest growth in online shopping
Interestingly, outer Sydney suburbs dominate the 10 highest growth areas for online shopping, where parcel volumes have soared by up to 200 per cent in the last year. CP forecasts that online shopping growth from these suburbs will continue to dominate other suburbs.
- Clyde North (3978) (200% increase in volumes)
- North Kellyville (2155) (185% increase)
- Fountain Gate (3805) (184%)
- Eastgardens (2036) (146%)
- Belconnen (2617) (99%)
- Edmondson Park (2174) (95%)
- Leppington (2179) (87%)
- Denham Court (2565) (81%)
- Gregory Hills (2557) (81%)
- The Ponds (2769) (79%)
Jessica adds: “The demographics that dominate the list are high-income earners, aspirational, and many of these suburbs have new estates and large houses.”
The weekly household income in suburbs such as North Kellyville, Edmondson Park, Gregory Hills and The Ponds, well exceed Australia’s median household income of $1438.[2]
“Most of the suburbs represented in these rankings are in NSW and Victoria, which experienced restrictions and lockdowns for at least half of 2021.”
[1] Monash University, November 2021 impact.monash.edu/retail/how-covid-19-changed-the-way-we-shop-again/
[2] ABS, 2016 Census data, quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC11383?opendocument