Online-only fashion sales to grow 67% by 2023

Online sales of clothing and footwear from e-commerce retailers are set to soar by 67.4 per cent over the next five years, reaching £7.5 billion, according to a new forecast from GlobalData.

Analysis included in GlobalData’s report into the future of growth of pureplay online retailers suggested that purchases from these sites will occur for a third of all clothing and footwear sales by 2023.

The rapid growth of online-only websites such as ASOS and Amazon - which together account for more than 40 per cent of online pureplay clothing and footwear spend - are driving even retailers with a more traditional ominchannel offering towards digital transformation, as consumers make the switch from the High Street to online.

For instance, 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.

According to GlobalData’s projections, retailers with both physical and digital presence are expected to underperform online-only players in the course of the next five years, with the outlook being “bleak” for players that do not already have high penetration of online sales.

Sofie Willmott, senior retail analyst for GlobalData, said: “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.”

Willmott concluded that 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.

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