Australians just spent $82.6 billion online. Here’s how to grab your slice without competing with Temu and Amazon

Hey guys, I want to talk about some numbers that just came out that are pretty freaking exciting if you’re thinking about starting an online store. Or if you already have one and you’re wondering whether it’s worth the effort.

According to the latest Australia Post eCommerce Report, Australian shoppers spent a record $82.6 billion online in 2025. That’s a 14% jump from the year before. 9.8 million households are shopping online regularly. Let me say that again. Almost 10 million Australian households are buying stuff on the internet on a regular basis.

If you ever needed a sign that ecommerce in Australia is not slowing down, this is it. The pie is getting bigger every single year.

But here’s the bit that matters.

It’s not just about how much people are spending. It’s about how they’re spending. And that’s where things get really interesting for anyone running a small ecommerce business.

The average basket size has dropped by about $10 compared to 2020. People are spending more overall, but they’re spreading it across more brands and more purchases. They’re not just going to one big retailer and buying everything. They’re shopping around. They’re discovering new brands. They’re buying from smaller, specialised stores that offer something different.

That right there is your opportunity.

Yeah but what about Temu and Amazon?

I know, I know. This is the elephant in the room. Amazon is getting bigger in Australia. Temu and Shein have exploded. And I won’t lie to you, these platforms are real competition. Amazon is tightening its grip on the Australian market, and Temu is building trust with Aussie shoppers faster than most people expected.

But here’s what I want you to understand. You are not trying to compete with Temu and Amazon. That would be dumb. You don’t win that fight on price or speed. You win by doing the things they literally cannot do.

Let me explain.

Temu and Amazon are marketplaces. They sell everything to everyone. Their whole game is volume, speed, and low prices. That’s it. What they don’t have is a story. They don’t have a personal connection with their customers. They don’t have niche expertise. They don’t have the ability to create a brand that people actually care about and want to come back to.

You do.

And the data backs this up. Australian consumers are actively choosing to support smaller, Australian brands. The Australia Post report shows people are buying from more brands than ever before. That means they’re open to discovering new stores. Your store. If you give them a reason to.

So how do you actually compete?

Here are the things that will set you apart, and none of them require you to have the budget of a big corporation.

Go mobile first or go home.

77% of all site visits and 68% of all orders are happening on smartphones. This is not a suggestion. This is a requirement. If your store doesn’t look and work beautifully on a phone, you are losing the majority of your potential customers before they even see your products.

When we build stores at Click Start Digital, mobile is always the first thing we design for. Not desktop. Mobile. Because that’s where your customers are. Every button, every image, every checkout step needs to work flawlessly on a small screen. This is one of the biggest mistakes I see people making when they try to build their own store without guidance. They design it on their laptop and forget that most people will never see it that way.

Get your delivery and shipping game right.

69% of shoppers want a range of delivery options at checkout. And 56% of Australians rank free shipping as their number one delivery preference. You don’t have to offer free shipping on everything, but you need to be smart about it. A free shipping threshold (“free shipping on orders over $80”) is one of the easiest ways to increase your average order value and keep customers happy at the same time.

Also, look into offering multiple delivery options. Standard, express, pick up. The more choices you give people, the more likely they are to complete their purchase instead of abandoning their cart.

Use Buy Now Pay Later (and don’t be scared of it).

43% of Australians are using Buy Now Pay Later services. And here’s the stat that really got my attention: small merchants who adopted BNPL reported an average 84% revenue increase. Eighty four percent. That’s not a typo.

Look, I know some people have opinions about BNPL. But from a business perspective, it removes a massive barrier to purchase. If someone loves your product but payday isn’t until next week, BNPL lets them buy now and pay over time. You get paid straight away. They get what they want. Everyone wins.

Afterpay, Zip, Klarna. Pick one or two and integrate them into your store. It takes about five minutes on Shopify.

Lean into social commerce hard.

74% of Gen Z and Millennials are browsing and buying through social media. Australia’s social commerce market is forecast to hit $8 billion by 2029. This is not just a trend. This is a whole new shopping channel.

What does this mean for you? It means your Instagram and TikTok and Facebook aren’t just for “brand awareness” anymore. They’re actual shopfronts. You should be tagging products in your posts. You should be using shopping features on Instagram. You should be creating short video content that shows your products in action.

And here’s a little tip: you don’t need professional video equipment. Your phone is fine. Authenticity beats production quality every single time on social media. People want to see real people using real products. That’s it.

Build a brand that Temu can never replicate.

This is the big one. The thing that separates ecommerce businesses that last from ones that fizzle out after six months. Your brand is your moat.

Tell your story. Why did you start this business? What problem are you solving? Why should someone buy from you instead of just searching for the cheapest option on a marketplace? When you can answer those questions clearly, and communicate them through your store, your packaging, your emails, and your social media, you build something that no marketplace can touch.

People buy from people. They buy from brands they connect with. They buy from businesses that make them feel something. Temu will never make anyone feel anything except “well, that was cheap.”

The numbers don’t lie.

$82.6 billion. 9.8 million households. 14% growth year on year. The ecommerce market in Australia is absolutely booming and there is plenty of room for new businesses to come in and grab their share.

But you have to do it right. You need a proper store that works on mobile. You need a brand that stands for something. You need your shipping, payments, and customer experience dialled in. And you need to be showing up where your customers are, which increasingly means social media and AI platforms.

The good news? You don’t have to figure all of this out on your own.

At Click Start Digital, we’ve spent 14 years helping Australians build ecommerce businesses that actually work. We’ve helped over 1,500 people launch their online stores with done for you website builds, one on one coaching, and training that covers everything from product selection to marketing to fulfilment.

If those numbers have got you excited and you’re thinking “yeah, I want a piece of that,” book a free discovery call with us. Let’s talk about what you want to sell, who you want to sell it to, and how we can get your store up and running properly. Not a dodgy DIY job that looks like it was built in 2015. A proper, professional store that’s built for how people shop today.

Because $82.6 billion is a lot of money floating around out there. And some of it should be landing in your bank account.