Fashion online retailing: Dressed for success

When it comes to fashion, many wish they could kit themselves out with the wave of a magic wand or the click of their fingers, but it turns out that today all it takes is the push of a button. Latest research from MINTEL Oxygen finds sales of fashion (clothing and footwear) online have increased by a massive 461% over the past 5 years alone, cutting through the £1 billion mark for the first time ever to reach £1.2 billion in 2006. An increasing number of broadband Internet connections, greater confidence in online shopping and a broader selection of clothes available online have been fundamental to the market’s impressive growth. “The online clothing industry is still in relative infancy but there is little doubt that 2006 was the defining year for the online fashion market. Last year was the first year that the business case for selling fashion over the Internet came close to being proven and fashion retailers have only just started to see the justification in investing millions of pounds in improving their internet presence. 2006 also marked the year where many retailers chose to start selling their whole range online,” comments Neil Mason, senior retail analyst at MINTEL.