WELLINGTON, June 24 (Xinhua) -- New Zealanders spent 2.77 billion U.S. dollars online last year, which saw a 16 percent increase comparing to 2.38 billion dollars recorded one year earlier, said New Zealand Post on Monday.
According to NZ Post's latest e-commerce report, online shopping grew 16 percent in 2018 compared to 2 percent growth in bricks and mortar retail.
Online shopping currently accounts for 8.9 percent of all retail spending in New Zealand. About 1.8 million New Zealanders, which translates into about a third of the population, shopped online last year, with each shopper clocking an average of 22 transactions throughout the year, said New Zealand Post chief marketing officer Bryan Dobson.
New Zealand Post processes around 70 million parcels each year and delivers more than half of all shopping orders bought online in New Zealand. The company found that 44 percent of those people shopped online more than once a month and spent an average of 100 New Zealand dollars per order.
While New Zealand's online retail spend has rapidly increased, it still lags behind other OECD countries such as Australia, the United States and Britain. Dobson said NZ Post expected New Zealand to follow the trend and break double-digit online retail spending figures in coming years.
New Zealanders aged between 30 and 35 were found to shop online the most and those aged between 45 and 65 spent the most. Those over the age of 70 were also increasingly shopping online, NZ Post said. (1 New Zealand dollar equals 0.66 US dollar)
