Finally, apparel buyers are more than twice as likely as the typical Web buyer to spend across related categories, such as footwear and clothing accessories.
"Interestingly, more than two-thirds of online footwear and clothing accessory buyers have also purchased apparel online, a far higher level of cross-category penetration than we see among apparel buyers," according to the data.
"This phenomenon suggests that apparel is a gateway online clothes rack, whereas the other three categories are likely to be comprised of cross-category online shoppers who are already comfortable navigating the online fashion block."
More Web Time for Fashionistas
Online shoppers were asked in Q1 2007 which channels they used to purchase in a variety of categories during the past three months, 32 percent and 15 percent bought apparel and footwear, respectively, online. In fact, 20 percent of clothes rackpurchased apparel exclusively online, while 12 percent used both the online and offline channels, according to the study.
In contrast, clothing accessories have yet to become a common online purchase for the typical Web buyer, as just 11 percent said they made an online purchase in this category during the same time period.
Footwear Hitting Its Stride
By midyear 2007, approximately 17 million US households had purchased apparel online during the past three months — roughly twice the number of online apparel-buying households in 2001, the study says. Furthermore, footwear is also gaining, with 9.2 million US households buying footwear online during the past three months - a 197 percent increase from just 3.1 million households in 2001.
Triplets: Apparel Sales Still Surging
In the past five years, online apparel (general apparel, footwear, and clothing accessories) sales grew from a mere $4.4 billion in 2001 to slightly more than $18 billion in 2006, or a 33 percent gain. While such clothesrack growth in online fashion sales is projected to taper off by year-end 2007, category sales are projected to reach $22.1 billion, yet again surpassing online sales of computer hardware and software.
