Bay of Plenty residents spent more than $230m online shopping

Bay of Plenty residents spent more than $230 milllion online shopping last year. Photo / File

Bay of Plenty residents spent more than $230m online last year, up almost 20 per cent in two years, and Kiwi businesses are benefiting, a New Zealand Post report reveals.

The Full Download 2019 report was undertaken by NZ Post because courier deliveries now surpassed mail as the largest contributor to NZ Post revenue, the report shows.

Bay of Plenty people spent an average of $98 each time and of the $234m spent online last year came from 2.4 million transactions, up 17 per cent.

Nationally, 1.8 million New Zealanders chose to shop online last year, spending a total of $4.2 billion.

NZ Post Chief Marketing Officer, Bryan Dobson, said the large growth in online shopping mainly comes from Kiwis shopping more often, with online shoppers now hitting that "buy" button 22 times each per year.

"We're also seeing an emergence of 'super shoppers' – with nearly one in 10 Kiwi online shoppers spending over $9,000 online," he said.

Dobson said the report was "good news" for Kiwi businesses.

"Spending with New Zealand online stores grew at nearly double the rate of growth for international online stores – encouraging news for our local e-tailers," he said.

"Although New Zealanders still enjoy shopping internationally with nearly one dollar in every three spent with an offshore online retailer, they also say that they prefer to buy from local retailers because they trust them and would like to support home-grown businesses," Dobson said.

There was also a rise in the popularity of Buy Now Pay Later Payment methods, such as Afterpay, with 12 per cent of shoppers using these payment methods last year.

Most were aged under 45 and over half of those were women.

Dobson said the most prominent online shoppers in New Zealand were women aged between 30 and 45 who lived in rural areas.

"NZ Post is delivering well over half of all parcels bought online in New Zealand and we're proud to be integral to that moment of joy when your online shopping parcel arrives.

"Customer needs are changing quickly, and they want speed, efficiency and convenience.

"Most online retailers in New Zealand use NZ Post to connect with their customers. With the leading delivery service we provide, and with the wealth of insights in this report, we are committed to helping online retailers to grow a better online business," he said.