Australian shopper behaviour has changed forever

Sydney, November 2020 – With Australia in recession for the first time in nearly 30 years, Australians are more conscious of how they spend their money and what they receive in return. The changing expectations of Australian consumers and the key shopping behaviours that emerged throughout the pandemic been revealed in new independent research conducted by Opinium Research and commissioned by Adyen, the global payments platform of choice for many of the world’s leading companies.

The Adyen Agility Report details the findings of a survey of more than 25,000 respondents, including more than 2000 Australian adults, and provides a guide to help retail and hospitality businesses secure customer loyalty in an ever-changing market.

Australians still love shopping in-store
While COVID-19 has been a huge catalyst for change, it’s also solidified our preference for certain activities, including shopping in-store. Of all consumers surveyed, Australians have the strongest desire to shop in-store (72%) compared to 62% of Americans and 50% of Brits. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of Australians are also looking forward to shopping in-store for pleasure again, well ahead of the global average of 55%.

Michel van Aalten, Country Manager Australia and New Zealand at Adyen, said: “Australia’s love for shopping has grown dramatically during 2020. Last year, research undertaken by 451 Research showed 50% of Australians liked shopping in-store. To see that grow 22% in one year and outstrip our international counterparts is a really positive indicator for Australia’s bricks and mortar retailers.”

But the shift online is real and here to stay
The pandemic caused a mass migration to online channels, particularly as lockdowns swept across the country, and Adyen’s research suggests that consumers have been won over by the channel’s convenience. More than a quarter (27%) of Australians said they shopped more online during the pandemic than they did previously – although less than our global counterparts in the USA (36%) and UK (33%). A third (33%) of Australians will also shop online more often now than before. This skews by age, with 46% of 18-34 year olds planning to embrace this habit, compared to 38% of 35-54 year olds, and 17% of those aged 55 and older. The appeal of online shopping is far-reaching, with 28% of those who prefer to shop in-store acknowledging they will also shop online more.

Experience is everything
A key finding from the research is that Australians don’t tolerate bad experiences – 72% won’t return to a retailer if they’ve had a bad experience, either in-store or online. But they do also reward those who help them out, particularly when times are tough. The vast majority (78%) say they will continue to support the retailers they relied on during the pandemic. And given the love for physical stores, it's also significant that most prefer to shop with retailers located nearby because they want them to stay open (67%).

Positive online shopping experiences are also growing. A quarter of Aussie consumers are now less likely to shop in-store because of their positive online experience during the pandemic. This is stronger among female respondents (28%) compared to males (22%) and among younger shoppers aged 18-34 (41%), compared to 35-54 year olds (29%) or those aged 55+ (10%). We now crave flexibility to shop when and where we want –70% of Australians said they’d like retailers to remain online, even as they reopen stores.

Jurlique has witnessed this shift in behaviour first hand. “When the coronavirus lockdown forced stores to close, we searched for ways to continue offering our personalised services,” said Alexa Anastassi, Head of Digital Product at Jurlique. “We rolled out a live chat service, staffed with the beauty experts from our retail stores. The service became so popular that we expanded the hours and made it a permanent offering. It’s created a lot more connection between our customers and our brand. We’re seeing it convert into not only sales but loyalty and affinity with the brand.”

“To see the level of positive feedback we’ve had from new and returning customers when we went the extra mile, particularly through what has been a really stressful time, really highlights the value in creating a personalised, and service-led experience online and blending those two worlds” she concluded.

Online sales help buoy the economy but unified commerce is the new frontier

Like Jurlique, the businesses that consistently performed the best throughout the coronavirus pandemic were those that combined their physical and digital worlds to create a fluid, channel-agnostic experience which prioritised the customer. This is “unified commerce” and Adyen’s data has revealed it to be a critical in driving success throughout the pandemic, helping businesses stabilise sales by offsetting lost in-store transactions with an increase in ecommerce.

Adyen asked the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) to model the impact on the economy if more businesses adopted this approach. Using the United Nations’ UNCTAD index, and accounting for lockdown stringency, their economic analysis revealed that greater unified commerce preparedness is associated with improved retail performance.

Cebr’s research found the proportion of Australian retail spending stemming from online channels stood at 9.7% in July, whereas it averaged just 6.6% in the six months prior to the pandemic. If this proportion was increased even slightly, on an ongoing basis, there could be a significant positive economic impact. In fact, Cebr’s modelling showed that increasing Australia’s unified commerce preparedness by five points could have improved national retail performance by 2.6% (or AU$7.3 billion) during the pandemic.

However, if retailers want to capitalise on this newly-converted audience, they need to focus on delivering seamless and secure online experiences.

“COVID-19 has shaken Australia’s retail sector to its core. Consumers have prioritised shopping closer to home with those businesses which provide a better experience, or that can be trusted to stock certain goods. Many retailers have impressed Aussies by adapting their operations and offering shoppers more flexibility across this period. Consumers want to see this agility continue and are looking for seamlessness between online and offline stores. Unified commerce will help retailers navigate this changing environment and excel in this next normal,” concluded Michel van Aalten.

For more information and insights on the Agility Retail Report by Adyen, view the report here.

-ENDS-

About Adyen

Adyen (AMS: ADYEN) is the payments platform of choice for many of the world’s leading companies, providing a modern end-to-end infrastructure connecting directly to Visa, Mastercard, and consumers' globally preferred payment methods. Adyen delivers frictionless payments across online, mobile, and in-store channels. With offices across the world, Adyen serves customers including Facebook, Uber, Spotify, Lorna Jane, the Cotton On Group, Freelancer.com, Kogan.com, Showpo and Rodd & Gunn.