Australia Post has announced the extension of its Pharmacy Home Delivery Service for a further six months and revealed that August 2020 was the biggest month in the country’s online shopping history.
The extension of this critical service comes as part of the Australian Federal Government’s recent announcement to provide ongoing support for a range of COVID-19 health measures for a further six months. During the pandemic, the postal operator successfully delivered essential medical supplies from over 1800 pharmacies to more than 24,000 vulnerable Australians.
Since March, pharmacies around the country have been able to offer free delivery on prescriptions to eligible customers through funding provided under the Australian Federal Governments COVID-19 health measures and take advantage of Australia Post’s unrivalled national network.
In this short and extremely challenging period for Australians, the Australia Post Pharmacy Home Delivery Service has provided participating pharmacies the option to offer an efficient, reliable service to their most vulnerable customers needing essential medicines delivered to their door.
Australia Post has supported delivery on average of over 200 essential medical supplies per day, some days significantly higher, while a recent surge in Victoria driven by stage 4 restrictions has seen deliveries increase to over 300 per day.
Australia Post Executive General Manager, Business, Government & International, Gary Starr, said he is incredibly proud of the critical role Australia Post has played in supporting those in our community who are reliant on delivery of essential medication from their local pharmacy.
He explained: “Over the last six months through the Pharmacy Home Delivery Service we’ve been able to implement a simple system that’s made a big difference for pharmacies and their customers right across the country, and we’re delighted to be announcing this extension.
“The pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for everyone, but it has been particularly difficult for the elderly and vulnerable in our community who haven’t been able to travel safely to their local store or to the pharmacy as they normally would.”
Starr added: “Australia Post hasn’t closed for a single day through the pandemic; our Post Offices have remained open and our posties and drivers have been delivering every day, supporting businesses and the broader Australian community. We look forward to continuing to provide the safe and reliable delivery of essential medical supplies from a trusted brand like Australia Post.”
George Tambassis, National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, said: “We welcome the extension of support for delivery of essential medicines to patients’ homes. The delivery of medicines at this time is vital to ensure people maintain their health as much as possible during the pandemic.”
Deliveries can be made to the home, or to a local Post Office or 24/7 Parcel Locker for pick-up.
E-commerce boom continues
Additionally, the company revealed Australian consumer’s online shopping habits are showing no signs of slowing with new data from Australia Post showing August 2020 was the biggest month in the country’s online shopping history.
The number of online purchases for the month were up 8.9% when compared to the 2019 pre-Christmas peak and 5.8% higher than April 2020, the previous largest period.
Nicole Sheffield, Australia Post Executive General Manager Community & Consumer, explained: “Between March and August this year over 8.1 million households have shopped online, an increase of 16% when compared to the same time last year; and almost a million of these households had never shopped online before.”
Sheffield continued: “In April we saw the biggest influx of new shoppers with over 200,000 new households entering the market. In the five months that have followed over two-thirds (67%) of these households have continued to shop online, with a quarter of them shopping twice or more per month on average.”
In August, the stand-out categories across the nation were food and liquor, health and beauty and home and garden products, all growing 90% or more year-on-year. Online shopping continues to boom with growth for the second week of September up 79% nationally, a trend set to continue with the key online sales period and Christmas fast approaching.
