1. Methodology (2 of 2)
This report covers the global B2C E-Commerce market for clothing. It takes into account a wide definition of the clothing segment, including products referred to as apparel, fashion, clothing, accessories and footwear. The exact definition of segment covered on each particular chart is included whenever provided by the source.
The report opens with a global chapter, where global developments and international comparisons are included.
The rest of the report is divided by regions. The regions are presented in the order of descending B2C E-Commerce sales. Within each region, regional information and comparisons are covered first, where available, and country chapters follow. Countries are also covered in the order of descending B2C E-Commerce sales. For the European region, the countries are also grouped into three sub-regions.
Within the country chapters, the following information is covered, where available: B2C E-Commerce sales of clothing, their historic growth and forecast, share of online shoppers or Internet users buying clothing online and rank of the category by this criterion among other product categories, share of B2C E-Commerce on total retail sales of clothing and share of clothing on total B2C E-Commerce sales, rankings and other information about online shops and websites where clothing products are purchased from. Not all types of information mentioned are provided for each country, due to varying data availability.
For the leading country or countries in the region, a text chart with qualitative overview of the online clothing market and players is included. 1

2. In the USA, both store-based and online clothing retailers embark on omnichannel strategies to stimulate sales.
USA: Overview of Clothing B2C E-Commerce Market and Players, January 2015
As reported by Cotton Lifestyle Monitor, traditional retail stores are still the primary place to buy clothing in the USA. 24% of surveyed consumers in the 2013 made most of their purchases of apparel at mass (24%) or chain (24%) stores, followed by department stores (14%), specialty stores (11%) and off price stores (11% for women and 6% for men). The share of online ranks after them with a 6% share of purchases.
However, according to NPD Group, B2C E-Commerce is the fastest growing sales channel on the apparel market in the USA. Website purchases accounted for 15% of retail sales of women’s apparel and 14% of men’s apparel in That year, the women’s apparel online segment grew by +17% compared to 2012, while the men’s grew by +19%, both outpacing the total retail market growth of women’s and men’s apparel at respectively +4% and +5%.
Often consumers browse apparel online to compare prices before they go to the store to make a purchase. 59% or respondents to a Cotton Lifestyle Monitor 2014 survey did so. National Retail Federation reported that apparel (30%) followed electronics (46%) in terms of share of consumers who researched products online before buying in store. This proves the importance of the omnichannel strategy for store-based apparel retailers. According to Forbes, despite massive expansion of apparel retailers into the E-Commerce channel, online retail has not grown into a large business for some major fashion retailers such as Aeropostale and American Eagle Outfitters. Direct-to-consumer business comprised primarily of E-Commerce, accounted for 9% of Aeropostale’s and 13% of American Eagle’s revenues. Even for the player with the largest B2C E-Commerce sales, Gap, this share was around 12% in In response, the retailers now are looking at the online channel as more of an enhancement to store sales and seek to create a seamless shopping experience to multi-channel shoppers. Gap reports that the pattern works also in the reverse way: brock-and- mortar stores help drive the online sales. The retailer gives customers options to check products online and reserve them in a store nearby or order them online and pick up in store, as cited by Bizjournals. Another example is UK-based online clothing retailer Boohoo.com, which opened a pop-up store in New York in 2014 to raise brand awareness in the USA, as reported by RetailWeek.
The rise of mobile plays an important role in the omnichannel strategy, as smartphones and tablets are increasingly used to buy and browse clothing items. A number of popular mobile application appeared in the USA, which allow users to socialize while choosing outfits online, share styles browse outfits liked by others and purchase them directly online. Such applications include, for example, The Hunt, LIKEtoKNOW.it, Keep, Pose, Lyst and others.
Source: Cotton Lifestyle Monitor, September 2014; NPD Group, April 2014, May 2014; Forbes, February 2014; Internet Retailer, July 2014; Gap cited by Biz Journals, August 2014; RetailWeek, November 2014; Forbes, November 2014 2 2

3. Management Summary (1 of X)
Global
Clothing is one of the product categories most purchased online worldwide. In July 2014, “Fashion and Apparel” (76%) was the second leading category after “Electronics” (77%) in terms of share of online shoppers purchasing it. In the USA (87%), the UK (85%), China (97%) and India (84%) it ranked even ahead of the “Electronics” category.
M-Commerce is an important trend in global clothing B2C E-Commerce. By share of online shoppers who made their last online purchase of clothing and footwear via smartphone, South Korea (31%) ranked first among selected countries, followed by China (12%), the UK (11%) and Australia (11%).
Furthermore, omnichannel strategy has gained importance. While many consumers research clothing and footwear products online, they might eventually buy it online or offline. While the probability that the purchase after the online research will be made online was significantly higher than offline in South Korea (79% vs. 18%), Germany (78% vs. 17%), China (76% vs. 18%), Japan(74% vs. 25%) and others, in the USA offline purchase was almost as likely to result from online research (48% vs. 46%) and in Turkey a larger share of consumers who researched online made the purchase offline (46%) than those who did it online (36%), as of Q
Clothing and footwear dominated cross-border B2C E-Commerce in 2014, It accounted for 39% of cross-border purchases made online worldwide and had the highest share of cross-border purchases made by shoppers in each of the covered regions. In Eastern Europe its share was the highest, at 50%, followed by Latin America and Middle East with 47% each.
Asia-Pacific
In Asia-Pacific, “General Online Retailer” was the most popular online destination to purchase clothing and footwear from across the selected major countries. In China and Japan, this type of seller dominated the whole segment with respectively 66% and 71% share on the latest online purchases of clothing and footwear in Q In South Korea, also “Apparel/Footwear Brand” was popular (32%).
In China, clothing is the most purchased category on the booming market for both male (28%) and female (41%) online shoppers. B2C E-Commerce sales of apparel in China amounted to an estimated EUR 75 billion in 2014, up by +41% y-o-y. Between Q and Q3 2014, the year-on-year growth rate of B2C E-Commerce sales of clothing in China fell from +173% to +54%. In Q3 2014, Tmall marketplace dominated the clothing B2C E-Commerce market in China with a 73% market share. Second in place was online retailer JD.com with 6%, followed by VIP.com with 5%.
In Japan, B2C E-Commerce sales of clothing grow faster than both the general retail market of clothing and the total online retail market. between 2011 and 2012, total retail sales grew by +1.3% only, while B2C E-Commerce was up by +21.5%. online retail sales in this segment were up by +26% to EUR 17 billion. A popular online shopping portal dedicated to clothing in Japan is Zozotown, while also Rakuten and Yahoo sell fashion products.
“Clothing, footwear, sporting goods and accessories” (50%) was the second most purchased online product category in South Korea in 2013 after “Cosmetics” (68%). E-Commerce sales of clothes, fashion and related goods in South Korea reached EUR 4.4 billion, up by +13% y-o-y. The share of M-Commerce on online sales in South Korea was even higher for clothing (40%) than for the total market (34%) in Q South Korea’s general online merchants such as Coupang, Gmarket and WeMakePrice compete in making best offers, coupons and discounts on the clothing products. 3

4. Management Summary (2 of X)
Asia-Pacific (cont.)
While travel dominates the B2C E-Commerce market in India with a 70% share, clothing and related fashion products is the biggest category among commodities in online retail. It accounted for 35% of online purchase transactions of goods (ranking first) and 28% of the transaction value (ranking second). B2C E-Commerce sales of fashion, footwear and accessories is forecasted to grow at CAGR of +71% between 2013 and 2016 to reach EUR 2.1 billion in 2016, up from EUR 419 million in 2013.
In Australia, B2C E-Commerce sales of women’s clothing is forecasted to grow at CAGR of +18% to reach EUR 461 million in Men’s clothing was estimated to reach EUR 221 million in 2014 with a +24% CAGR over the five-year period. “Women’s Clothing” was purchased online by 545,000 individuals from local websites and by 369,000 people from foreign websites in a typical four-week period in a year to September Men’s clothing was purchased respectively by 277,000 and 229,000.
“Apparel” (67%), “Shoes” (20%) and fashion accessories such as “Bags” (20%) and “Watch” (8%) were the top product categories purchased by shoppers in Indonesia online in 2013.
In a year to April 2014, “Fashion and Accessories” accounted for 12% of online retail sales in New Zealand, making it the fourth largest category.
“Clothes, bag, shoes” (50%) was the product category most purchased online in Malaysia in 2013.
“Watches” was the product category with the highest average online shopping spending in Singapore, at EUR 753 in May 2014, while “Fashion” had the average online spending of EUR 189.
“Clothing, shoes and handbags” (59%) was the product category most purchased by online shoppers via social media in Thailand in May 2013.
The product category most purchased by online shoppers in Vietnam in 2013 was “Clothes, Shoes, Cosmetics” (62%). 71% of online buyers of fashion returned the fashion products purchased online at least once, as of December 2014, with “Wrong Size” and “Poor Quality” being the two main reasons. Lazada.vn was the most popular website to purchase clothing from.
North America
32% of respondents in the USA and 20% in Canada made their last online purchase of clothing from “General Online Retailer” in Q Second in popularity for Canada was “Department Store” (27%), while for the USA it was “Apparel/Footwear Brand” (19%).
In the USA, both store-based and online clothing retailers embark on omnichannel strategies to stimulate sales. 59% of consumers browsed apparel online to compared prices before they went in store to buy. B2C E-Commerce sales of apparel and accessories in the USA are forecasted to reach EUR 65 billion in 2018, up from EUR 39 billion expected in B2C E-Commerce accounted for 15% of the total retail sales of women’s apparel in in 2013, while for men’s apparel this share was 14%. The largest online sales among selected US apparel retailers was generated by Gap, at EUR 1.7 billion, accounting for 14% of the company’s total sales.
B2C E-Commerce sales of apparel in Canada grew by +12% year-on-year in 2014 to reach estimated EUR 1.1 billion. 4

5. Management Summary (3 of X)
Europe (Regional)
Germany (54%), the UK (53%) and France (42%) led among selected countries in the EU in terms of share of online shoppers buying “Clothing, Footwear” in In the EU 5, except France, “General Online Retailer” led in terms of share of online shoppers buying clothes online, as of Q
Western Europe
Clothing and sports goods has been the most purchased product category in the UK since In 2014, 47% of individuals aged 16 and older purchased from this category in the previous 12 months. Online competition from store-based fashion retailers in the UK intensified in 2014 due to increasing popularity of click-and-collect. B2C E-Commerce sales of clothing and footwear in the UK are forecasted to reach EUR 23.6 billion in 2019, up by +12% CAGR from The share of B2C E-Commerce on total retail sales of clothing and footwear grew from 13% in 2011 to estimated 17% in The only pure online retailer in the top 5 fashion retailers by website popularity was Asos. Multichannel retailers Asda, Marks & Spencer and Next ranked ahead of it.
In Germany, the majority of consumers buy clothing both online and offline, often comparing prices between online and in-store. “Clothing, Sports Goods” (65%) was the product category most purchased online in Germany in B2C E-Commerce sales of clothing in Germany amounted to EUR 7.1 billion in 2013, up from EUR 4.6 billion in The share of B2C E-Commerce on total sales of “Fashion & Accessories” grew from 6% in 2008 to 19% in The two leaders of the “Clothing, Textile, and Shoes” category in German online retail in 2013 were Zalando and Bonprix, with online sales of respectively EUR 702 million and 411 million. Moreover, 27% of consumers in Germany purchased clothing online from Amazon in 2014, 13% from H&M and 10% from C&A.
In France, online channel first attracted clothing buyers with prices lower than offline, but other factors now contribute to its popularity. In Q1 2014, 49% of Internet users in France purchased “Fashion and Clothing” online, making it the fourth most purchased category overall and the first among physical products. The share of B2C E-Commerce on total retail sales of clothing in France grew from 12% in 2012 to 14.6% in a year to June Online fashion specialists Vente-Privee (22%) and La Redoute (17%) ranked fifth and sixth by share of users in France buying from these sites, as of Q
“Sports Equipment, Clothing” (43%) was third most purchased product category online in Spain in In 2013, 3.1 million people purchased fashion products online in Spain, 600,000 more than in 2012, with average spending per online shopper per year increasing by EUR 6 to EUR % of sales of “Textiles, Footwear, Accessories and Home Textiles” in Spain were made online in 2013.
45% of online shoppers in Italy purchased “Fashion, Clothing” online in 2014, making it the most purchased product category. The share of “Clothing” on total B2C E-Commerce sales in Italy increased from 8% in 2010 to estimated 14% in The share of B2C E-Commerce on total retail sales of clothing grew from 2.9% in 2013 to 4% estimated in 2014. 5