ABOUT THIS NICHE

The size of the fashion industry has been steadily growing for many years. Making up 2% of all global GDP, clothing generates over three trillion dollars every year. Approximately 80% of the industry is concentrated in the women’s wear, men’s wear, and luxury goods segments.

Online fashion sales continue to capture a great share of US retail eCommerce sales. Best performing online category – fashion and accessories – is registering high annual growth rate of 17.2%, according to eMarketer.

According to the eCommerce Benchmark Research, conducted by eCommerce Foundation, with over 70 fashion companies who participated in the study, fashion retailers are either Generalist (18%), or operate in specific segments, such as Women (34%), Men (13%), Shoes (4%), Body (12%) and Jeans (3%).

For online fashion retailers, the majority of traffic comes from search engines (53%), email marketing (10%) and social and viral media (8%).

REASONS TO ENTER THIS NICHE MARKET

• 49% of people between the ages of 25 and 34 prefer shopping online, according to a recent survey conducted by Retail Week and Microsoft.
• Online fashion and accessories sales in the U.S. could grow 20% over the next four years, compared to just 10% six years ago.
• Fashion eCommerce market is expected to reach $54.2B this year (Source – Internet Retailer) in the US alone and is quickly becoming the top eCommerce market second only to consumer electronics.