Nielsen on e-commerce sites & August news rankings

E-commerce sites are seeing strong audience growth in the new financial year, with several sites experiencing their best month since August 2014, according to the latest Nielsen Online Ratings figures.

E-commerce market leader Amazon continued to grow its audience, with a unique audience of 3.59 million throughout August compared to 3.39 million in July; an increase of 199,000 people. Investment in e-commerce by large retailers is proving successful for many, with major retailers including Target, Office Works, Big W, Kmart, Ali Express and the Good Guys all showing growth of more than 200,000 people from the same time last year.

Commenting on the results, Monique Perry, head of media at Nielsen said: “The major retailers, traditionally bricks and mortar, have been proactively and in many cases significantly innovating their e-commerce options for consumers. Nielsen’s 2015 Australian Connected Consumer report found that 60% of online Australians shop online at least monthly, and over a quarter shop online at least weekly.

“This is a huge 20% increase on monthly online shopping since last year, and demonstrates a growing love of online retail and savviness in seeking out competitive prices online. Retailers have responded in kind by increasing their offerings and online customer experience and they’re seeing the results.”

Meanwhile, classifieds/auctions sub-category leader Ebay also achieved its largest audience in 12 months, with a unique audience of 7.5 million, an increase of, 531,000 people from the month prior. Grays Online is also on the rise, reaching 766,000, a 17% growth year on year and 18% month on month.

When looking at the current events and global news sub-category, results remained stable for August, with news.com.au retaining top ranking following a record high audience of 4.1 million in July.

The Guardian and Yahoo!7 News Websites both grew active reach this month.

The Daily Telegraph dropped out of the top 10, with the BBC taking its place at #10.