The top 3000 sellers on eBay.com.au, Australia’s leading online shopping destination, are expecting to experience their busiest Christmas ever this year.
In a recent survey, two-thirds of eBay’s top 3000 sellers said they are confident sales will increase by an average of 31% over the Christmas trading period.
Figures released today by the ABS show that overall retail sales grew at a negligible rate of 1.1%. In comparison Australians are predicted to spend $30billion online in 2011, up 11.7% on last year. (Forrester, Q3 2011).
According to data and strategy experts Quantium, the only parts of the retail sector experiencing growth are businesses that have established an online sales strategy as part of their business model.
Tony Davies, Director of Quantium, says, “Our Market Blueprint data shows that the online market is growing at an annual rate of 26%, suggesting it will double in the next 3 years. Any retailer not paying attention to online by now is turning their back on the fastest growing part of the market. Indeed, in many sectors it is the only growing part of the market.”
“While the ABS figures indicate slow growth for traditional retail; the contrast is stark for online players in the lead up to Christmas, with 64% of eBay’s top 3000 sellers expecting to see an increase in sales during the holiday period,” eBay Vice President Deborah Sharkey said.
“In fact over a quarter of eBay.com.au’s top 3000 sellers will take on up to 2 additional staff to manage the increase in sales.”
Additional data found, in the lead up to Christmas:
- On average, 73% of the top 3000 eBay sellers are expecting to increase their inventory line during the run up to Christmas.
- Of these sellers, the expected increase in inventory line for Christmas is an average of 19 products.
Jethro Marks, eBay.com.au seller and co-founder of successful online bookstore The Nile, believes the Christmas period will be an exciting time.
“The Christmas period is always a busy time for us and we’re expecting 2011 to be our biggest Christmas yet. We’ve found that Australians are shopping online more frequently and gaining more confidence in the online retail space,” Mr Marks said.
Jethro Mark’s launched The Nile on eBay almost two years ago and now has 30 staff across Australia and New Zealand, including a US eBay presence, selling products to American customers.