The Australian lingerie market is worth $1.8 billion per year
And it turns out our favourite place to shop for our delicates is Target.
Aussie ladies certainly love their lingerie! Over 2.5 million Australian women aged 14 or over regularly buy underwear, making at least one purchase in any four-week period of time. And since the average spend for these purchases is $55 per person, it appears we're not skimping when it comes to unmentionables.
Of the top 10 most popular stores to buy lingerie, the favourite is clear. Target has a 14.8% market share (in dollar terms) thanks to the 576,000 Aussie ladies who buy new knickers from Target every four weeks.
The second most popular store on the list is Myer, holding an 11.7% slice of all the dollars spent on lingerie. Interestingly,the ladies who buy at Target only spend $36, whereas the average lingerie purchase at Myer is $73 - more than double.
Best & Less, Big W, Bras N Things and Kmart take out third, fourth, fifth and sixth place with 9.9%, 9.3%, 8.8% and 8.5% market shares respectively. It is interesting to note that it is actually Kmart who has the second-highest number of shoppers, with 447,000 ladies making at least one purchase every four weeks. However, Kmart falls into sixth place for share of dollars spent since the average purchase is just $27 - the lowest average spend of all stores in the top ten.
When Aussie ladies are looking to splash out some serious cash on their lingerie, it seems they will head to our number 10 on the list. The store with the highest average spend at $158 per person, is American lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret, with a tenth-place market share of 1.6%. This is nearly double the next highest average spend of $88 at David Jones (eighth place with 4% market share).
All of this contributes to a market that is worth $1.8 billion dollars a year. This is an impressive figure, particularly when compared with how much Australia spends on other industries. To put this in perspective, Australia spends $1.5 billion dollars on drug law enforcement, $1.3 billion on sporting goods and $1.7 billion on the AFP budget.
Yes, Aussie women really, really love their lingerie.
