Booze, sports and gifts: The sectors with top online sales growth for 2017 revealed

Australians love a bargain, but as the local market adjusts to evolving customer expectations about online retail and delivery, some sectors are pulling away from the pack when it comes to sales growth.

Retail management platform Neto has worked with Telstra to crunch consumer spending data from 1,001 shoppers as well as sales data from 1,000 local merchants, revealing which sectors had the fastest growing online sales in 2017.

One in four shoppers made an online purchase at least once per week, according to the survey, with price and delivery options the most frequently reported factors driving a decision to buy.

Customers also reported a new-found interest in “buy now, pay later” programs for online shopping such as Afterpay, with a 147% increase in these types of transactions compared to 2016.

When it came to sales volume growth in 2017, it was the gifting sector that came out on top. With 66,000 average online monthly sales between January and July of this year, the sector saw a 59% increase compared with a year prior.

Sports and recreation sales came in second, with 39% growth in sales in the first six months of the year to 44,000 average monthly purchases made online.

Here are the top five growing industries for online sales, according to Neto’s data:

1. Gifting | Sales growth: 59% | Average basket value: $129
2. Sports and recreation | Sales growth: 39% | Average basket value: $148
3. Motor parts | Sales growth: 35% | Average basket value: $163.79
4. Food and alcohol | Sales growth: 26% | Average basket value: $150
5. Homewares | Sales growth: 19% | Average basket value: $178