Clothing and footwear spend via online-only retailers is set to soar 67.4 percent over the next five years reaching 7.5 billion pound in 2023, outpacing growth in the sector online (forecast to be 40.3 percent) and accounting for over one third of online clothing and footwear sales by 2023, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
The company’s latest report: ‘Online pureplays in UK clothing & footwear 2018-2023’ reveals that innovative online pureplays are driving the online clothing and footwear market as multichannel retailers struggle to keep up with the rapid pace of change. Retailers operating both physical and digital sales channels are expected to underperform online clothing and footwear growth and the outlook for players that do not already have high penetration of online sales is bleak.
Sofie Willmott, Senior Retail Analyst for GlobalData commented: “Although multichannel retailers dominate online clothing and footwear spending, they are under threat from online pureplays that are continually evolving their proposition to offer a best in class shopping experience.”
Alongside major players, ASOS and Amazon which together account for over 40% of clothing and footwear spend via online pureplays, there are plenty of new retailers vying for share of the market. PrettyLittleThing’s brand awareness, and in turn revenue, has rocketed in recent years with the online pureplay set to overtake its sister brand boohoo.com in 2018, making it the fourth largest online-only retailer in the online clothing and footwear market.
Willmott concludes: “In order for multichannel retailers to attract online shoppers, they must ensure the experience they offer matches up to those of online pureplays including fast, low cost and a wide choice of fulfilment options and features that make purchasing clothing and footwear online enjoyable and easy.”
