Australians have not completely cut ties with their colonial masters, if online spending at UK department stores is any guide.
Less than a week after British department store Debenhams launched a dedicated Australian web store, high-street rival House of Fraser has unveiled its own plans to target Australian consumers online, with local content and prices in Australian dollars. 
House of Fraser chief executive Nigel Cuddy says Australian shoppers are the biggest spenders on the retailer's UK online store, which generates sales of about Â£247 million ($456 million) a year, or about 19 per cent of the retailer's total annual revenues of Â£1.3 billion.
Debenhams e-commerce director Ross Clemmow says Australia is the store's biggest online market outside the UK, accounting for almost one-third of international sales and 47 per cent of international orders.
Debenhams' online orders from Australia have risen 12 per cent over the past year, despite the decline in the Australian dollar, and the retailer has ambitious plans to triple sales over the next 12 months after launching a localised website and marketing campaign dubbed A Match Made at Debenhams.
UK department stores Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis also ship to Australia, although prices at John Lewis are in sterling rather than Australian dollars.
UK retailers have a ready-made market in Australia in the form of about 1.2 million expats who are familiar with their brands and would rather buy clothing and accessories from the British chains than local department stores such as Myer, David Jones, Wesfarmers' Target and Kmart and Woolworths' Big W.
The UK sites have also proven popular with Australian consumers with a hankering for quintessentially British designers and brands such as Jasper Conran, Barbour, Preen, Jaeger and Dorothy Perkins.
Demand from Australia is so strong that Debenhams inked deals late last year to open its first Australian bricks-and-mortar stores under a franchise agreement with department store chain Harris Scarfe, which is owned by global retailer Pepkor.
Harris Scarfe plans to open four or five stand-alone Debenhams stores over the next three years.