Dissertation Help on Fashion Online Market-Clothing and Footwear
Issues in the Fashion Online Market-Shopping Online
●
Will
the online fashion market continue to rocket in 2010 as it has done in 2009?
Mintel thinks we may just be looking at a turning point. With H&M, Gap and
Zara finally announcing they are to launch UK transactional sites, it looks
like the online high street is moving close to completion. Among major fashion
retailers, only Primark still has its shutters down on selling online.
●
The
same sense of a slackening off of pace is coming through from consumers, with a
lessening of the pace at which they are going online, taking up broadband or
starting to shop over the internet. On top of this, the wider economic context
is making itself felt in terms of restricted consumer spending and greater
budget consciousness.
●
Retailers
hoping to make themselves stand out in a market where there is now huge variety
of product offer, increasingly sophisticated online presentation and a rapidly
improving service proposition will need to tune into their particular
customers’ needs. Selling fashion online is not just about providing a product,
but also a service. This can be anything from advising on the latest trends to
editing a product range down to what your customer wants or delivering just the
right dress to their home in time for a special evening out. Making these services
as seamless, well managed, reliable and relevant as possible is the challenge
for retailers in the next stage of development in this market.
Main themes
●
How
big is the online fashion market and what are its prospects for growth in the
future?
●
What
are the key factors driving growth in the market?
●
What
are the most important innovations by retailers in this sector?
●
Who
are the leading players in online fashion and how are they growing their
businesses?
●
Which
consumers are taking to online shopping and which ones find it less appealing?
●
What
is the consumer’s experience of online fashion shopping?
●
What
do they like or not like about retailers’ websites?
Definitions
This
report looks at the online fashion market, which is defined as:
●
Clothing
for men, women and children, including both underwear and outerwear.
●
Footwear,
including shoes, boots and any other type.
The
market is defined as all purchases where transactions are made through the
retailer’s website, or through an auction site, rather than by other ordering
methods, even if the product is viewed online prior to purchase.
Key points
●
Only one in ten
online shoppers say they have never bought clothing. Encouraging surfers to
make their first internet purchase of any kind is a crucial initial step.
●
Under-25s and heavy
internet users buy more clothes online than in store, implying internet
familiarity might still be a factor deterring some groups from buying.
●
Men are much more
likely to have neither browsed nor bought clothes online. Retailers need to
make online fashion shopping more directly relevant to their needs.
In
February 2010, GMI undertook research on behalf of Mintel into consumers’
online fashion shopping habits. A nationally representative sample of 1,970
internet users aged 16+ living in Great Britain who bought clothes in the last
year or are likely to buy clothes in the coming year were asked the following
question:
“Thinking about shopping and
browsing for clothes online, which of the following statements most applies to
you? “
FIGURE 51:
Attitudes towards shopping and browsing for clothes online, February 2010
|
All
|
Online shoppers
|
% point variation
|
Base:
internet users aged 16+ who buy clothes
|
1,970
|
1,432
|
Online shoppers vs All
|
|
%
|
%
|
|
|
|
|
|
I
buy clothes online, but buy more clothes in store
|
43
|
59
|
+16
|
I
have browsed online but never bought
|
17
|
8
|
-9
|
I
buy more clothes online than in store
|
12
|
17
|
+5
|
I
buy around the same online and in store
|
11
|
14
|
+3
|
I
have never browsed for or bought clothes online
|
17
|
2
|
-15
|
SOURCE:
GMI/Mintel
FIGURE 52:
Shopping online for clothes, February 2010
Base: 1,970 internet users aged 16+ who buy
clothes
SOURCE: GMI/Mintel
Nine out of ten online shoppers have
bought clothing
●
Online
shoppers are more likely than average to buy more clothes in store than online
largely because they are more avid clothes shoppers than the general public.
Just 2% of online shoppers say they have never browsed for or bought clothes
online.
●
Only
one in ten online shoppers have never bought any clothing online, even though
they have browsed for clothing, compared with 17% of clothes buyers in general.
Key
Analysis: Once a consumer has made some kind of purchase online, they are much
more likely to buy clothing as well. Retailers should consider how they can
team up with other complementary or non-competing stores through marketing and
loyalty schemes to exploit this factor.
Women buy more clothes in store than
online
●
Women
(49%) and the 25-34s (52%) are likely to buy online but buy more clothes in
store. This is again likely to be because they are generally keener clothes
shoppers but also because almost half of women like to see and feel an item
before buying it.
Key
Analysis: Maintaining in-store reminders about online shopping through windows,
PoS material and till receipts could all capitalise on this.
●
Under-25s
(20%) and those from the North West and Yorkshire (20%) browse but don’t buy.
This is also true among those on the lowest incomes (25%) suggesting that
purchasing power is the main determinant of online shopping behaviour.
●
However,
under-25s are also among the most likely to say they buy more clothes online
than in store (15%) along with those in the South East/East Anglia (16%), and
those with heavy (7+ hours) internet usage.
Key
Analysis: Despite the apparently commonplace nature of internet usage and
shopping, familiarity with the internet may still be a factor in decisions
about buying fashion online. Making the point about how easy it is to shop
online in in-store materials and advertising as strongly as possible might
convert some of the more hesitant consumers to this channel.
Many men still shun online fashion
●
Far
more men (23%) than women (11%) say they have never browsed or bought clothes
online. This is especially true of the 55+ group (28%) and DEs (23%).
Key
Analysis: Getting men interested in fashion is not just a problem online, but
these internet users are clearly not engaged by what is on offer at the moment.
Retailers’ websites remain geared towards women, with womenswear featured on
their home pages. Finding some way of tailoring the surfing experience to men’s
shopping interests is necessary, eg providing a “men’s store” landing page on
search engine results is one approach taken by some retailers, but more needs
to be done, for instance pages themed by occasion such as smart evening out,
down the pub and so on, to make shopping as easy as possible.
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