The Australia Post eCommerce Report 2026 opens with a number that commands attention: Australians spent $82.6 billion online in 2025, up 14% year-on-year. The behaviour underneath it, though, creates a more complicated picture for anyone trying to market to those shoppers. They’re buying more often, spending less per transaction, and spreading their loyalty across more brands.
Here are four signals from the data that will affect how you market your ecommerce brand in 2026.
Brand Loyalty Is Eroding. Retention Is the Priority.
The average Australian household now buys from 16 different brands a year, more than double compared to a decade ago. Brand remains critical, but right now shoppers are more concerned with getting a good deal than staying loyal. Yes, they’re making four additional purchases per year compared to 2024 (AusPost eCommerce Report 2026 / CommBank iQ), but average order values are shrinking to around $96.
When customers buy more often but spend less each time and spread their purchases across more brands, each new acquisition is worth less on its own. The return is in lifetime value. Keeping your customers around long enough to buy again is what moves the needle.
The Sale Doesn’t Start at the Ad
73% of Australian shoppers wait for a sales event before purchasing, 81% shop around for the best deal, and among Gen Z, 96% hold out for a sale. Deal-seeking has become the dominant mode.
For paid media, shoppers are harder to convert on first contact and more likely to delay until a price signal arrives. Timing and intent matter as much as reach and creative. Priming demand before a peak period consistently outperforms showing up only during it.
The cost side compounds this. Google CPCs climbed 12.88% year-on-year in 2025; Shopping-specific costs rose 33.72%. Meta CPMs hit an all-time high in Q1 2025, up 19.2% year-on-year. Global platforms like Temu and Shein have poured billions into digital advertising, inflating auction costs for every retailer competing in the same channels.
When basket sizes fall and acquisition costs rise, the ROAS and CPA targets most brands set 18 months ago are calibrated against a market that no longer exists. Recalibrating those benchmarks is what separates performance marketing from performance theatre.
WA Is the Fastest-Growing Online Market in the Country
Western Australia led the country in online spending growth at 18% year-on-year ($9.1 billion), outpacing NSW (13%) and VIC (13%). Most national campaign budgets don’t reflect this: they allocate spend by population, not purchase intent. The result is a fast-growing market most national media plans are getting wrong. Marketing strategies that treat Perth as a smaller version of Sydney are leaving growth on the table.
AI Agents Are About to Shop on Your Customers’ Behalf
Six in ten Australians now use AI; three in ten consult AI when researching what to buy. By 2030, agentic commerce (where AI agents discover, compare and complete purchases on a consumer’s behalf) is projected to influence an estimated 30% of digital transactions globally.
The practical implication is for brand visibility: if your product data isn’t structured and your content isn’t machine-readable, you won’t convert in an agent-led journey.
What to Do with This
- Rethink your retention investment. More frequent, lower-value purchases mean lifetime value matters more than ever. Lifecycle campaigns and post-purchase nurture are no longer optional.
- Build for sales moments, not just always-on. Audit whether your media strategy accounts for the way shoppers actually time their intent, and whether you’re priming before peak periods or just showing up during them.
- Audit your product feeds and content structure. If AI agents can’t read and compare your offering, you’re invisible in the fastest-growing part of the purchase journey.
- Pull your state-level performance data. WA’s 18% growth rate is almost certainly not reflected in your national budget allocation. Check your Google and Meta state breakdowns — if WA’s share of spend mirrors its population rather than its purchase intent, you’re leaving growth on the table.
The Australia Post data is a useful mirror. The opportunity is in spending smarter, at the right moments, for the right people. Marketers who read the frequency and fragmentation signals correctly will be better positioned than those still chasing volume. The channel mix is evolving. The shopper has already moved.