Australia’s online retail spending increased to $14.9 billion for the year to January 2014, or by 11.3%, now representing around 6.5% of traditional retail spending.

Domestic retailers continue to control the largest share of online sales – at around 74%.

Despite a recent pickup in the traditional bricks and mortar retail sector, it was still outpaced by the improvement in online retail growth over the past three months.

However, recent online growth has been more subdued than the 20-30% growth rates recorded in earlier years. A substantial gap now exists between the stronger growth in domestic online retailing, and the virtual stall in growth in international online sales, which is probably currency related.

By category, the results are mixed. The year-on-year strength in Media masks a slowdown over the past three months. Growth has continued for Electronic Games & Toys, Groceries & Liquor, Fashion, and Homewares & Appliances categories, but trends have been weaker in Daily Deals, Recreational & Personal Goods and Media.

We hope you enjoy our latest insights into this rapidly evolving sector.

For further analysis download the full report.

• NAB Online Retail Sales Index: Indepth report – January 2014 (PDF, 1.1MB)

For more information, call your NAB Relationship Manager or contact:

Alan Oster

Group Chief Economist

National Australia Bank

+61 (0) 3 8634 2927

Alan.Oster@nab.com.au

Tiernan White

Retail Sector Head & Head of NAB Corporate NSW/ACT

+61 (0) 2 9237 1041

Tiernan.White@nab.com.au

Peter King

Head of Consumer SectorsAustralia

Institutional Banking

+61 (0) 2 9237 9054

Peter.P.King@nab.com.au