There is significantly more optimism and hope for the future in the fashion and lifestyle sector, compared with last year, as the focus begins to shift from cost reduction to investment.

That's one of the findings of Prologic's Technology in Fashion report, produced in partnership with Oracle and carried out by Martec. The survey covers companies with total sales of £5.2 billion and a total of 9,030 stores, representing 18 per cent of the UK fashion industry. Findings include: 63 per cent of retailers said their top priority this year is investment in e-commerce, followed by an increase in wholesaling (58 per cent); this year, companies are reporting their IT spend at 2.3 per cent of sales, compared to 1.8 per cent of sales last year; the majority have websites that are in profit (68 per cent) and half say they achieve profitability within the first year of operation. However, this leaves a third that are not trading profitably. Of those that are profitable, 68 per cent say their website is more profitable than their stores. Sixty seven per cent are currently able to offer their customers the chance to return products bought online at the store. Yet checking store stock levels from the website is currently offered by only 30 per cent of companies.

Brian Hume, managing director at Martec International, comments: "The evidence is that IT budgets are returning to their long-term average. IT spend on multi-channel functionality is up significantly. This year, companies' report that their IT spend is back to a more normal level and they predict that levels will increase into next year. Most companies say their website is one of the few areas where they are seeing sales growth, and so they are scaling up this area of their business. They are broadening their range, increasing the number of countries covered and improving website usability."

The full report can be found at: www.prologic.com/ThePrologicReport/eCommerce/Invitation.aspx

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