The Australian government officially acknowledged at the end of 2010 that online retailers are an important trend in the economy. To provide something more than a statement, the Australian government held a forum on online retail in February of 2011. Retailers and wholesalers from across the nation attended the event, which included speakers from the government and representatives from PayPal, eBay, Grays Online, Temando and the Australia Post. A webcast of the forum can be viewed online on the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy website.
The Digital Economy
A report by Access Economics estimates that in 2009, up to $24 billion dollars was spent by Australians online. Somewhere between 50 to 80 percent of that total was business done with Australian online retailers. The report went on to recommend every local business to increase or develop their web presence to take advantage of the trend. However, many retailers are concerned about the cost to set up and maintain an effective website. The reason the government set up the online retailer forum was to address concerns such as this one.
A more recent report about Australia’s digital economy came from PayPal Australia. The online payments giant estimated that e-commerce in the nation totaled $26.86 billion in 2010. The Reserve Bank of Australia used this figure to estimate that this was about three percent of total household consumption.
The goal of the Australian government is for more retailers to tap into the digital economy. In order to help new online retailers, a webpage was developed that details how to develop a digital strategy and provides a checklist for developing an online presence. The items on the checklist include the following:
• Provide customers up-to-date information
• Interact with potential customers via chat and social media
• Allow customers to recommend the company, its products or its services to others via social media
• Provide customers with a reliable and easy-to-use sales platform
Benefits for Online Retailers
The Australian government has also linked resources on its website that detail the benefits of online retail. Some of these benefits are as follows:
• No rent for a physical walk-in store can save $150,000 per year per 70 square metres.
• No expenses for fitting out a building as working shop are required. These expenses include painting, putting up shelves and a security system.
• Fewer staff is required, which could save $100,000 or more per year.
• Fewer monthly bills are generated.