The health and beauty sector has been the runaway success story for Australian ecommerce retailers across the first half of the calendar year according to a half-yearly retail sentiment index released last month.

Health and beauty retailers have reported a significant 70 per cent growth in revenue from sales year on year, bucking the trend of generally flat retail figures across the country.

Ecommerce in Australia has enjoyed a period of strong growth overall, with retailers reporting a growth rate of 23 per cent across the January to June period. The top five performing segments include health and beauty (+69.58 per cent), homewares (+47.94 per cent), sports and recreation (+34.42 per cent), tools and hardware (+25.55 per cent), and pets and animals (+19.75 per cent).

Neto COO, Jason Titman, says there are plenty of opportunities when it comes to ecommerce.

“There’s a lot being said about the challenging conditions for retail in Australia, and certainly that’s true, but as these numbers show, there is real opportunity in ecommerce for innovative and creative retailers,” he explains.

“Within those categories, we’re finding the most successful retailers are adopting an omni-channel approach, where they maintain a physical and online presence, and also sell through social media and platforms such as eBay. Successful retailers are targeting a wide spread of consumers, and meeting them at their preferred buying platform, rather than waiting for consumers to come to a fixed sales platform.”

Titman adds that retailers are getting better at maximising the efficiency of their ordering, fulfilment and logistics processes, meaning that every individual sale is returning a greater margin to them.

“We’re still in for a dynamic and challenging run into the second half of the year, but the signs are looking good for retailers that take the initiative.”