What do you splash your hard earned money on? In the UK, it seems women simply can’t resist handbags, but when it comes to keeping up to date with the latest fashion accessory trends – men lead the way. Read more to discover the essential top 10 stats on the UK fashion accessories market.
- Handbags account for the largest share of the fashion accessories market in the UK, up 11% year on year to reach £1.2 billion in 2013.
- Over half (51%) of the female UK population, equivalent to 13.5 million women, bought at least one handbag in 2013.
- Nearly one in 10 (8%) men in the UK bought a manbag in 2013.
- Mintel estimates British consumers splashed out £2.5 billion on fashion accessories in 2013.
- Sales and special offers are the main motivator for buying new handbags and accessories, with over half (59%) of women incentivised by a discount.
- Nearly half (43%) of women in the UK buy a new bag because of a special occasion.
- In the UK, men are more influenced by fashion trends when buying a bag – 23% of men claim this as a purchasing incentive, compared to 13% of women.
- Consumers over-55 are the demographic most likely to buy handbags and jewellery on impulse with over a quarter (26%) agreeing with this.
- A quarter (25%) of consumers who have bought fashion accessories in 2013 have bought them online (Internet specialists such as ASOS, Amazon, eBay, etc).
- Men are more than twice as likely to be motivated by innovation than women when buying bags (22% men vs 8% women).
For more information please see Mintel’s Fashion Accessories UK 2014 report.
Tamara Sender is Senior Fashion Analyst at Mintel. Tamara researches and writes Mintel’s reports on all aspects of the UK clothing market. Before joining Mintel, Tamara worked as a news reporter at William Reed Business Media with particular emphasis on retail and leisure markets. As a multi-lingual journalist, Tamara has written for several national and international titles in both the UK and Latin America and is regularly called upon by the worldwide media to commentate on fashion and clothing trends.
