Perhaps no industry has been more changed by the electronic revolution compared to retail.
Online retail continues to rise in Australia with an estimated value of $22.1 billion a final year, a 7 percent rise on the year earlier. As the marketplace continues to grow it is also constantly evolving. Steven Noble, the senior e-commerce analyst in Telsyte, advised SmartCompany the online retail marketplace has now entered a stage of maturation.
This year’s SmartCompany record of Australia’s top 20 online merchants comprises both leaders and people who have gone online more lately. It comprises both pure-play online retailers and “omni-channel” retailers that straddle both the electronic and bricks-and-mortar spaces.
The unranked list takes into consideration traffic information from Nielsen, turnover and consultation with business resources. Prominence was given to retailers who are leaders in their classes which are leading the way in internet innovation.
The list features budget websites, e-commerce platforms, and international sites. Listed below are Australia’s top online retailers:
- Temple & Webster
Subscription-based homewares merchant Temple & Webster has gone from strength to strength in the short time frame of three years when it was set in 2011 by Brian Shanahan, Adam McWhinney, Conrad Yiu and Mark Coulter. It is the remarkable development of Temple & Webster which has got the pure-play merchant the number one place on the list this season.
Shanahan formerly told SmartCompany it took Temple & Webster 214 times to reach $1 million in earnings. Now the merchant makes seven times that, every five to ten days. Temple & Webster turned around $28 million at the 2014 calendar year and expect to reach 50 million in earnings in 2015.
While Shanahan says rising competition in online retail in Australia is very good for customers, he thinks it will be more difficult for startups to compete in the area.
Traditional retailers do a better job of working out where buyers would like to be, therefore it is going to get tougher for smaller retailers to develop with no greater financial aid. For small businesses considering 2nd storey additions to their home and working from, there can be one way to potentially cut costs if the business is simply a startup.
- Kogan
It is set to be another significant season for Kogan, among the most famous homegrown internet retailers in Australia. However, the company founded by Ruslan Kogan in 2006 is not only known for the televisions it sells.
Having quietly launched 15 other retail classes at the end of 2014 and also the beginning of 2015, Kogan created a daring play in the online supermarket in February by launching Kogan Pantry. Kogan clients are now able to purchase food items like Nutella and Pringles, toiletry items like razors and toothpaste and confectionery and cleaning goods in the $300 million retail market.
Kogan said that there are just so many TVs you can sell a customer. They only getting started and hope to keep growing in product areas. Any customer, regardless of what product they’re following, will be aware to return to Kogan.
- The Iconic
Among the newer players on the Australian retail arena, trend marketplace The Iconic proceeds to punch above its weight.
Launched in 2011, The Iconic has previously had multi-million dollar financing rounds, such as a 28 million increase in mid-July 2013, and more recently has concentrated on incorporating leading foreign brands into its own market of Australian designers.
The Iconic has gathered an impressive 500,000 Facebook likes and over 80,000 followers on Instagram. In 2013, the online platform turned around $31 million. Cloud computing allows for preferences to be saved and makes for a more tailored shopping experience for the customer.
- Catch of the Day
So far as online retail success stories go, it’s really hard to go beyond Catch of the Day. Since its early days as an eBay company, the merchant based by Gabby and Hezi Leibovich was changed into a $350 million powerhouse, The Catch Group.
However, the eight-year-old firm hasn’t been resting on its laurels, launching to the homewares class with spin-off West Avenue in mid-2014. Launching into a broader market means that deals can be found for just about anything from beauty, adventure, bits and pieces for your new home extension or even restaurant vouchers. Gabby Leibovich advised SmartCompany at the time the team expected to get tons of competition on its hands in the emerging market segment.
The Catch Group, which also possesses deals website Scoopon, has previously obtained financing from James Packer and Hunt’s Andrew Bassat. The team sells on average one thing every minute, with 7 per cent of requests now coming via social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
In accordance with Telsyte’s Steven Noble, we could expect to continue to observe that the Catch Group grow quickly, as a result of the merchant’s investment in autonomous warehousing.
With the increase in smartphone and computer technology with the abilities of it cloud computing, cloud drives, etc. it is no wonder that the online retail market is constantly on the rise.
