Shoppers in Western Australia pushed to shop online

According to recent reports restricted opening hours at shopping malls and retailers in Western Australia has pushed a rising number of consumers in the area to shop online over Christmas.

According to a recent report a rising number of people have been using the Internet to make purchases in the Western Australia area over Christmas due to the restricted operating hours of retailers and shopping malls. With more people having broadband access and with limited access to bricks and mortar shops, an increasing number of consumers in WA are now being pushed online to make purchases this festive season.

A recent survey that was carried out in the run up to Christmas showed that a huge ninety three percent of consumers in Western Australia said that they would be buying at least some of their gifts online. The survey was carried out by the Australian National Retailers Association (ANRA). In contrast to the WA figures, only ten percent of regional Victorians said that they would shop using this method, which officials believe is the result of more flexible opening hours and greater accessibility to retailers and malls.

ANRA CEO, Margy Osmond, said: “A third of shoppers in regional WA told us they would do most of their Christmas shopping from their lounge.” She added: “Victoria has a very liberal trading hours regime and allows its shops to open when consumers want them to open.”

Around half of Western Australians did indicate that if the shopping and opening hours were more flexible over the festive seasons they would have shopped at bricks and mortar shops rather than focussing on online shopping. However, the survey did show that online shopping amongst WA residents was commonplace, with over seventy percent stating that they did some shopping online.