The apparel and footwear industry rebounded in 2021 but faced challenges in 2022 due to ongoing COVID-19 effects and macroeconomic disruptions. Offline retail maintains its importance alongside e-commerce, as consumers demand seamless integration of online and offline channels, leading to store renovations and emerging physical stores by e-commerce retailers. E-commerce is projected to outperform offline channels, and generative AI holds promise for the future of fashion.
This report comes in PPT.
Despite new waves of COVID-19 that resulted in lockdowns and other restrictions across markets for part of 2021, global sales of apparel and footwear grew by 12% y-o-y in constant terms. The industry is set to grow over its 2019 size by 2024, but as China began its most extensive COVID-19 lockdown in two years in March 2022, followed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, inflation rates are at an all-time high, resulting in an uneven and fragile recovery.
Asia Pacific leads apparel and footwear in terms of value sales, at USD663 billion in 2021, and accounts for 39% of all global spending on apparel and footwear. The region’s dominance is driven by China which accounts for 64% of all sales in the region. Its large population and highly aspirational consumer base have been key to its high share. India is another market that has a strong contribution and high potential to aid the region’s continued high share.
COVID-19 has undeniably served as a catalyst for a stronger move towards digitalisation and direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales. Backed by innovation and rising access to technology, this has changed the way retailers deliver products and services. Consumers have also continued to warm to the thought of shopping online for convenience when mobility is restricted, quicker deliveries by online retailers and the introduction of new offerings such as click and collect.
Apparel is the aggregation of clothing and footwear. This dataset covers retail sales of apparel through both store-based retailers and non-store retailers. Excludes black market sales (i.e. untaxed, generated within informal retailing)and duty free sales (travel retail). Items must be new when sold to the consumer; second-hand/used items are excluded. Antique and/or vintage clothing and footwear is also excluded.
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