According to Bigcommerce research, Australia is a big spender when it comes to shopping online. Australia is fast becoming a haven for online businesses with high average spending and more e-commerce stores opening than any country in the world.

Online systems and service provider Bigcommerce conducted the internal survey on 35,000 online stores the company has in its database. Research results also show Australia had an increase of 200 per cent from 2010 to 2012 with regards to new online stores opening.

Australians are apparently big online spenders, shelling out an average of $142 per item compared to the rest of the world's average of $116 in 2012. In 2011, Australians spent an average of $118 per order online.

Bigcommerce says the stores it helped set up in 2009 have now sold over $2 billion worth of products. Total transactions have reached 17.4 million. Eddie Machaalani, co-founder of Bigcommerce says economists will only need to look at the figures to know that e-commerce is booming.

The recent Bigcommerce research is backed up by National Australia Bank's Online Retail Index. It revealed Australians spent $12.8 billion while shopping online. The figure increased by 23 per cent from 2011.

Research estimates of Ebay and Paypal shows Australians made $5.6 billion worth of mobile devices last 2012 compared to only $155 million last 2010.

Online shop success

One example of e-commerce success is Brooke Sivendra, a native of South Australia who was a former microbiologist. She is currently the owner of an online shopping directory for kids', women's and men's fashion in 2010.

She took advantage of social media networks' popularity and promoted her business on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. She now has a thriving business with 250 boutiques run by Australians and international retailers. She is making around $150,000 annually and currently pursuing a degree in nuclear medicine.