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Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Who Buys Fashion Online


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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