The Covid-19 pandemic has been a difficult time for fashion retailers as a whole – in 2020. However, even in a sector that already had a relatively high degree of ecommerce penetration.

This roundup includes studies and financial results that show how fashion ecommerce is evolving, including cross-border sales, fast fashion growth, and how inventory sizes have changed. We’ll be adding to this roundup on a monthly basis to include the latest research that has caught our eye.

UK online clothing sales expected to overtake in-store in 2022

According to an October 2021 report from Retail Economics and Eversheds Sutherland, online sales of clothing rocketed by £2.7 billion over the course of the pandemic, but total sales fell by £9.6 billion. As a result, the dramatic shift to ecommerce in this category over the past 18 months has meant online clothes shopping could overtake in-store purchases by as soon as next year, ahead of previous expectations that it would happen in 2025.

If this occurs, Britain would be the first European nation where the majority of clothing is bought from online sources. The next closest market – the Netherlands – isn’t due to cross this threshold until 2025, while Germany and France aren’t predicted to do so until several years after that.

54% of online shoppers in the UK have become more price-sensitive towards fashion purchases since the start of the pandemic

Although online shopping has boomed since the onset of coronavirus. Tt appears consumers have grown accustomed to the heavy discounting. Which was used as a tactic to stimulate demand during lockdowns when fashion sales declined. As a result, fifty-four percent of UK-based online shoppers have become more price-sensitive. Towards fashion purchases since the start of the pandemic. Furthermore, new data from antuit has found.

Markdowns over the last year and a half have prompted online shoppers to discover a wider range of products and migrate to alternative brands. This is still true for many – 6 in 10 now say they would be more likely to try new clothing ranges when a discount has been applied. Meanwhile, price incentives have also had a positive impact on CLV among fashion brands, with 54% of respondents confirming that they had gone on to purchase at least one other garment at full price after initially purchasing a discounted one.

Pandemic ecommerce boost sees Shein’s valuation double to £21 billion as it becomes the world’s largest online-only fashion retailer

Chinese-owned, online-only fast fashion australia email list retailer Shein has more than doubled its valuation year-on-year thanks to unprecedented growth during the pandemic. In a recent 2021 assessment, Shein has been value at an equivalent £21 billion, up from £10 billion last year, crowning the brand as the largest online-only fashion retailer in the world.

Present in 220 regional markets, according to reporting from the Retail Gazette, the company has seen a surge of more than 81 million app downloads globally in the first half of 2021 alone. It is becoming increasingly popular in the US, with the app periodically topping the mobile download chart since the onset of the coronavirus. Bloomberg has noted that Shein became the most downloaded shopping app in the US in May – ending Amazon’s 152-consecutive-day streak – calling it a “remarkable feat for any seven-year-old clothing brand”. Since then, the two retailers have been in close competition for the monthly top spot.

One quarter of shoppers purchased apparel from websites outside of their home country in 2020

Data from eShopWorld shows one quarter of shoppers (surveyed across 11 countries). Furthermore, purchas apparel from websites outside of their home market in 2020. Rising to 31% among younger consumers in the Gen Z and Millennial age brackets. This marks apparel as the most sought-after ecommerce product, cross-border.

This is despite the fact that UK online clothing sales. Furthermore, over much of the course of last year have been much lower. Furthermore, than levels seen before the pandemic. As a result, these figures from eShopWorld highlight. The importance of offering and investing in cross-border ecommerce capability for clothing retailers, particularly as they begin recovering post-Covid.

61% of fashion retailers say they are planning to reduce the number of SKUs in their inventories

The pandemic’s impact on the fashion industry, particularly in store. Furthermore, has leds to significant amount of left over stock and periods of heavy discounting . Furthermore, greatly affecting overall revenue. A December 2020 report from Business of Fashion and McKinsey observes. The ways fashion retailers are making fundamental changes to. Furthermore, their strategies going into 2021 to resolve the issues that have buy to light more plainly than ever before.

When asked what strategies they would employ to avoid future overstock. Furthermore, 61% of fashion retailers said they were planning to reduce the number of SKUs in their inventories. A further 60% hope to improve analytics for consumer insights so that they can better predict demand. Furthermore, while 55% said they would implement a more agile supply chain.