Fashion Sales in EU & UK
We have been analysing data over four months – from January to April – and compared it with the last four months of 2020. By April, the number of online fashion sales jumped by 73%. As for the United Kingdom specifically, they increased by 50%. Gradual removal of restrictions and activities of partners seems to have contributed to this growth a lot.
Meanwhile, the amount of European fashion orders has grown by 28% – demonstrating that customers have reduced their average spend, but at the same time, they are ready to buy more often. The interest towards brands’ websites is growing as well – from the beginning of this year, the number of clicks has increased by 18% in comparison to the previous period.
The UK is keeping up with the trends of its European neighbours. On May 17, England entered step three of the government’s out-of-lockdown roadmap, and another step was highly anticipated at the end of June. This could be the reason why Brits are upgrading their wardrobes. From January until April, the number of fashion orders from residents increased by 50%, and their total value by 34%.
Residents of Ireland, Italy, Slovakia, Denmark and Slovenia increased the total cost of purchases in the fashion industry faster than others. The top ten includes Holland, Czech Republic, Finland, Poland and Greece.
Let’s see which European countries boast the largest average spend for online orders in the fashion segment:
What is driving the growth?
- Partial removal of restrictions
Most European countries are carefully removing the lockdown restrictions, and, as a result, people are spending more time outside. For example, the Austrian Government has announced a new alleviation of restrictions after June 10. Starting June 14, the Czech Republic allowed bars and restaurants to serve their customers indoors. Italy is going to lift the curfew this summer too.
The United Kingdom is bringing into action their “out of lockdown” roadmap as well.
- Deferred demand
For a whole year, most British abstained from streetwear shopping. Now they are returning to it both as a leisure activity and out of necessity to refill their wardrobes. Those who used to buy ten dresses a year are now ready to buy 20 at once – and in a shorter time span.
This factor has been especially noticeable in the field of luxury brands – it isn’t for nothing that Bernard Arnault, the head of LVMH, occupied the first richest person position of Forbes in May. The holding consists of 75 well known brands including Dior, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Guerlain, Kenzo, Tiffany, Bvlgury and many others.
In the first quarter of 2021, LVMH reported 14 billion euros of revenue, which is 32% higher than it was in the same period last year. Experts are attributing this rise to the fact that buyers within the luxury segment love to touch and try on a piece of clothing or an accessory before buying it. Also, during the expected recovery of the European economy, luxury goods can become an interesting investment object.
- The number of active affiliates
During the pandemic, not only has the internet audience increased, but also the number of ad spaces ready to work with brands through affiliate marketing. That means they are willing to receive rewards not for posting about goods based on an advertising contract, but for specific orders they brought to specific ad spaces.
Since the beginning of this year, the number of publishers increased by 12% – this has helped the industry gain more reach and get millions of potential customers.
- Seasonality
All the fashion lovers had to skip an upgrade-your-wardrobe season last year because in April-May 2020 almost all of Europe was under a tight lockdown. Therefore, this spring and early summer, buyers unleashed a wave of demand for online stores. They are also highly motivated to replenish their summer wardrobe because of the expanding list of countries that open their borders and are ready to accept vacationers.
Where do buyers come from?
According to the Admitad Affiliate network, most of the orders in the fashion industry now come from the following traffic sources:
Both experts and stakeholders predict further growth to the fashion industry. With the recovery and the rising wave of customers, competition between brands in the standard marketing channels will intensify. Therefore, it is important to look for new ways to interact with the audience, experiment, work with publishers and make yourself known in order to focus the audiences’ attention on your brand.
Why do fashion market players choose CPA?
For those who are unfamiliar with marketing terminology, CPA stands for ‘cost per action’, meaning that brands pay only for the result. The company chooses the target action (for example, purchase, installation or application) and pays a fee for them to publishers. To receive a reward, they introduce their audience to the goods and services, bringing traffic to the brand’s store.
Publishers (aka webmasters and partners) can be anything – cashback services, loyalty programmes, entertainment media, bloggers, targeted advertising experts, etc. The affiliate network opens access to hundreds of thousands of affiliates and makes sure that they provide brands with high-quality coverage.
The main advantages of the CPA scheme according to the fashion brands:
- No risk of losing your budget while experimenting with new sources of traffic.
- Predictable results and transparent statistics
- Thousands of webmasters with all kinds of traffic
- Saving resources of the marketing department
- Feedback from partners that helps to improve the campaigns.
Add to the list the speed of performance – as opposed to traditional advertising media.
All in all, we believe that affiliate marketing helped fashion brands to contain the decline in sales during the pandemic year. And now, when the restrictions are eroding and demand is returning, CPA is going to help brands quickly return to old levels of income without the risk of wasting their budgets.
Stay safe and shop well!
