Online retail not slowing down: PayPal

By 2013, Australians will collectively spend over $37 billion online on everything from plane tickets to groceries, according to a new report from Forrester, Nielsen and PayPal.

The research, contained in PayPal's latest "Secure Insight" report, projects that the online shopping market in Australia will continue to grow, with the majority of purchases set to be from onshore retailers.

Forrester Consulting predicts that the domestic online shopping market will be worth over $27 billion, an increase from the current spend of approximately $23 billion. The imports market, according to the research, will be worth approximately $10 billion; an increase on the 2011 figure of approximately $7 billion.

Addressing the launch of the report this morning in Sydney, Melanie Ingrey, research director media for Nielsen, reported that 97 per cent of Australians have now made a purchase online. Nielsen's research revealed that the majority of people surveyed for its Consumer Attitudes and Behaviour research paid with PayPal, above credit and debit cards.

The research also showed that cash still has a stranglehold over the physical payments space, especially for low-value purchases, like coffee, fast food and transit tickets.

"Whether transacting online or offline, Australians are switching between a variety of methods to make payments. Whilst consumers still have a 'cash is king' mentality, with 85 per cent citing cash as their most regularly used offline payment method, research shows that this is predominantly due to a lack of choice. Three quarters of Australians cite that they need cash for small items, and close to half claim that some retail outlets only accept cash, and that there are limits imposed by retailers on the minimum amount accepted on card transactions," the Nielsen research suggested.