Market Analysis
Retail formats and customer behaviour
Understand how retail formats suit different shopping tasks and assess customer choices without confusing store type, channel and motive.
A retail format shapes the range and service a business offers. Customers choose how to shop for a particular task. The same person may use a supermarket for a routine shop, visit a specialist to compare unfamiliar equipment, or order a known item online.
Start with the shopping task
Ask what the customer must resolve before buying: is the item familiar, does fit, freshness or compatibility matter, is it needed today, and how many products must be bought on one trip? The answers can change from one purchase to the next.
| Shopping task | A format that may help | Question to check |
|---|---|---|
| Buy several routine items in one trip | Broad-range grocery or general merchandise store | Are the needed items available together at a convenient time and place? |
| Choose an unfamiliar product | Specialist store with a focused range | Can the customer compare suitable options and get useful advice? |
| Buy a known item without travelling | Online ordering | Are the delivered price, timing and return process acceptable? |
| Need an item soon | Accessible physical store | Is it in stock and ready to take home? |
These are possible matches, not predictions about every shopper. Price, access, stock and service can change the preferred option.
Australia Post’s 2026 eCommerce Report says 47% of Millennials shopped online weekly or more, compared with an average of 35% across shoppers.
The same report links price-seeking to online choice: 81% of shoppers said they shop around for deals. Its 2025 survey found 69% of shoppers used marketplace apps, compared with 78% using retailer websites.
Online Shopping Trends Among Australian Shoppers
Distinguish format from channel
A department store, specialist shop and supermarket are different formats. Online ordering and in-store shopping are different ways to buy, and one retailer may offer both.
A visit may begin with online research; an online order may end with collection at a store. A channel label does not reveal the customer’s motive.
The Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) was developed for use in the compilation and analysis of industry statistics in Australia and New Zealand. It was jointly developed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Statistics New Zealand to improve the comparability of industry statistics between the two countries and with the rest of the world.
The 2006 edition replaced the 1993 edition. It was later revised to clarify class definitions and support consistent interpretation.
Because ANZSIC classifies business activity for statistical use, treat its categories as a way to describe the industry, not as a direct measure of how customers shop. A business’s classification cannot, by itself, show whether customers use its website, visit a shop or combine channels.
Explain why a format earns a trip
A physical store may offer immediate access, a chance to inspect an item and help at the point of choice. A visit also takes time and may fail to resolve the purchase if the desired item is unavailable.
Breadth can be useful for another reason: one stop may complete several purchases. In its supermarkets inquiry, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) identified convenience as important to grocery-store choice and described the appeal of a well-located supermarket where shoppers can obtain what they need in one shop. That grocery finding does not establish how people choose furniture, footwear or other goods.
Online ordering offers access without a store visit.
Evaluate the whole offer
For a defined purchase and location, compare the products available, price, time to obtain them, help offered and options if the item is unsuitable. A specialist’s focused range may help someone compare products within its field. A broad-range store may save a separate trip. Neither benefit follows automatically from the format label; the actual range, staff, hours and stock matter.
When assessing a proposed format change, name the behaviour it is meant to serve and check that behaviour in the relevant category. A survey records what respondents report. Transactions record purchases within their coverage. Neither alone reveals every reason for a choice.
A retailer’s channels can also complement one another rather than compete as separate offers. GPT has described retailers using the internet to complement their physical stores, and physical stores to complement online retail. When assessing customer choice, consider whether the options together serve the task, rather than assuming a customer uses only one channel.
Treat category evidence as a guide, not a rule
An Australian furniture-shopping article estimates that online sales made up 25–30% of furniture sales in 2024, while 70–75% occurred in physical stores. It also reports that half of furniture shoppers browse online before buying in-store. These are category-specific estimates, not a pattern that can be assumed for other goods.
The example shows why channel use and purchase location should be considered separately. Someone may use online information to compare options, then choose a physical store for the purchase; another customer may complete the same task online. The relevant question is which parts of the task each channel serves.
Furniture Shopping: Online vs In-Store Trends (2024)
- Online sales share of total furniture sales25–30%
- In-store sales share of total furniture sales70–75%
- Shoppers who browse online before buying in-store50%
In this guide
- Comparing specialty stores with general merchandise formatsCompare specialty and general merchandise stores by range, advice, access and the shopping task, while keeping Australian classification limits in view.
- Why customers choose physical stores for some purchasesExplore when immediate access, product inspection, advice and a combined trip can make an Australian store visit useful.
- Evaluating evidence about changing shopping habitsCheck whether evidence shows a change in Australian shopping habits by matching behaviour, population, period and data coverage.
