Australian consumers are embracing digital commerce, but Australian retailers are failing to build long-term relationships with their customers online, according to new research.

More than 50 per cent of Australians have been described as “digital buyers” who prefer to “buy online where possible”, a statistic that puts Australians among the top digital consumers in the world.

But the Australian retail sector is late to the party. A recent Deloitte survey found that “Australian retailers are going digital at a snail’s pace”.

More than 50 per cent of respondents expect to generate less than 2 per cent of their Christmas sales online.

And while David Jones’ 1,000 per cent quarterly increase in online sales recently made headlines, this increase comes from a very low base, with digital commerce now accounting for a mere 1 per cent of the retail giant’s total sales figure.

From a warehouse in California

NAB’s Online Retail Sales Index puts the proportion of online retail at 6.3 per cent of bricks and mortar consumer retail spending.

But recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics should worry local retailers: Australian consumers spend more money online with overseas retailers than with their domestic counterparts.

Australian retailers have to come to grips with the new reality of a global marketplace and strong competition from overseas internet giants like Amazon or fashion retailer ASOS.

Easy access, convenience and price transparency of digital commerce are only some factors explaining the trend, others lie in the strong Australian dollar and a relatively high threshold for GST-free overseas purchases, much complained about by the local retail sector.

Motivated by these trends, in a recent study we have investigated the state of play in Australian Digital Commerce. Using a catalogue of 63 single criteria we have evaluated in