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Report Finds Online Apparel Sales Growing
Market researcher The NPD Group forecast that e-commerce will continue to make gains in the apparel market.
In its recently released “The Future of Apparel” report, the company in Port Washington, N.Y., found that the average Internet customer is spending more online.
The average annual apparel online spend per buyer in 2017 increased 11 percent compared to 2016, the report said. Gains also were made in purchases in categories such as tailored clothing, sleepwear and outerwear.
However, e-commerce gains did not spell the demise of bricks-and-mortar retail, said Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry adviser. “Retail is not dead, it is just spread. The apparel industry is spread across a wider range of options than ever before, be it in-store, online, buy, rent, or resell. … Online has opened the doors to more ways to engage consumers.”
The report found that in 2017, 76 percent of apparel sales came from in-store purchases while 21 percent came from online purchases. The report also found that in 2017, in-store purchases declined 3 percent from the previous year. In 2017, online apparel sales jumped 7 percent to $46 million. Physical retail recently experienced a boost, according to another NPD report. It found that spending at general merchandise stores, such as home improvement and grocery stores, grew 8 percent in the first quarter of 2018. Cohen said the upswing was fueled by the Hispanic dollar.
Overall spending by U.S. Latinos has been rising. “Unlike last year, Hispanics are spending, which leads to a very different story for this important market and U.S. retail in general,” he said.
