Digital Sales Dominate Pre-Christmas Period, AusPost Reports

It’s been another huge Christmas for retail, Australia Post has shared. In a new report from the country’s largest logistics company, more than 52 million parcels were delivered during the December peak.

Moreover, there were more packages moving by air than ever before, Australia Post reported. More than 8.7 million kilos worth of parcels were flown across the country, up 13 percent from the previous year.

While it’s no surprise that online retail is the channel of choice for many Australian consumers, more than 5.8 million households relied on e-commerce in the lead up to the Christmas period. According to Australia Post, the volumes of orders in October and November were higher than in previous years.

Online orders for books increased more than 22 percent, specialty food orders also increased, up five percent. There was a further nin percent increase in online pharmacy orders.

“That we have seen another 52 million parcels delivered at Christmas demonstrates the dedication of the people in our Post Offices, our Licensed Post Office Partners, and everyone working across our processing, delivery, customer teams including more than 5000 new team members who helped make it possible,” said Paul Graham, the Group CEO and MD.

“We thank Australians for their patience and support during these challenging times, and with so many customers heeding our call to shop and send early we saw a really big November for both deliveries and online shopping ahead of our traditional December peak.”

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