Melbourne will be among the biggest drivers of online shopping through this year to December, with five suburbs in Melbourne CBD, Pakenham, Berwick, Point Cook and Sunbury in the top eight suburbs where online shoppers are expected to reign supreme, according to new CouriersPlease research.
Based on its parcel deliveries, CouriersPlease compiled its ranking of parcel deliveries by state for 2024. NSW claimed the crown for most deliveries in 2023 – receiving 21% more deliveries than Victoria – and CouriersPlease predicts NSW will keep its top ranking this year.
Forecasts show that Melbourne suburbs will claim this year’s online shopping crown after the capital’s CBD and outer suburbs topped a national suburb list for most packages delivered last year, with five out of the top eight spots.
Melbourne is tipped as the parcel delivery favourite, with Melbourne CBD receiving almost double the amount of deliveries than Australia’s third-ranked suburb, Sydney CBD. Melbourne’s Berwick, Point Cook and Sunbury made the top eight. Berwick, which sits 41km from the city and Point Cook, 22km from the CBD, don’t have their own major shopping centre which may have fuelled online retail appetite. Adelaide was the fifth city for parcel deliveries while Sydney’s Epping came in eighth.
CouriersPlease’s analysis further revealed the top suburbs in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia that are likely to shop the most this year. It expects Melbourne CBD, Sydney CBD and Adelaide CBD to be the top suburbs in their states, pointing to an upswing of workers in city offices last year.
CouriersPlease CEO, Richard Thame said, “A returning workforce to the capital city CBDs had likely fuelled the 2023 figures, as employees choose to receive parcels at work, where permitted. Victoria, NSW and South Australia recorded some of the highest number of office days compared with remote-working days last year. We expect parcel delivery volumes to CBDs to grow further this year as employers continue to increase the proportion of office-based days for hybrid workers.”
In NSW, Sydney’s Hills district in the north-west is expected to continue dominating the ranking of parcel deliveries by suburb. Epping, Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill and Blacktown will take out top spots this year. Coffs Harbour could again this year be the only non-Sydney suburb making the NSW ranking.