The year 2023 was a remarkable one for clothing and fashion. Whether we liked it or not, the 1990s were back. Swifties brought the friendship bracelet back to life on their own. Barbiecore was also very popular.
Despite all the craze, many markets saw a downturn during the early 2020s e-commerce boom. All of the elements that typically cause business slowdowns—financial uncertainty, inflation, and a difficult job market—were on everyone’s minds in 2023.
What effect, if any, did these variables have on clothing and fashion companies using BigCommerce? To find out, we examined the figures.
Techniques
BigCommerce gets its fashion and apparel data straight from its clients. Unless specified differently, all data is worldwide and applies to all nations in which BigCommerce customers conduct business.
Every comparison is a congruent comparison between the same number of active retailers from the comparison’s earliest time period. For instance, unless specified differently, data from BigCommerce stores that were operational in 2022 would be the sole sources used in a year-over-year (YoY) comparison between 2023 and 2022. The data that is cited below contrasts data from Q1 2024 with data from Q1 2023 (January through March).
How clothing and fashion fared between 2023 and 2024
From Q1 2023 to Q1 2024, fashion and clothing firms using BigCommerce showed significant increases across all categories. Globally, the gross merchandise value (GMV) of fashion and clothing brands increased by 10.7%. Without a doubt, the 7.2% increase in orders during the same period had an effect on this GMV increase.
An increase in average order value (AOV) of 3.1% is also responsible for the rise in GMV. Brands’ average unit value (AOV) increased from $160 in the first quarter of 2023 to $165 in the same quarter of 2024, suggesting that consumers may be less strapped for cash in 2024 than they were in 2023 and may be more inclined to open their (digital) wallets.
While growth in EMEA and APAC was phenomenal, inflation may still be having an impact on AMER.
A slightly different story emerges when the data is broken down by region. Brand growth in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) area was comparable to that of brands in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East (EMEA). APAC’s GMV increased by 24.6%, while EMEA’s GMV increased by 25.3%. Significant improvements were also seen in the overall number of orders, which increased by 41.3% in EMEA and a still-impressive 24.3% in APAC.
AOV is the anomaly for these areas. AOV increased by just.7% in APAC but declined by 11.1% in EMEA. Even while this may be seen as a general downward trend for companies, the large increases in orders more than made up for the low AOV numbers, which had a favorable effect on GMV.
However, the figures from the United States, Canada, and Latin America (AMER) appear very different. Both GMV (5.7%) and AOV (6.5%) witnessed single-digit growth for brands in this region. In fact, there were.3% less orders overall in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023. Sellers may have increased their pricing in anticipation of supply chain or customer hardship, according to a comparison of that data with AOV figures.
Trends and forecasts for clothing and fashion in 2024
According to EMARKETER, apparel and accessories will account for more than 19% of all retail online sales in 2024, making it the largest ecommerce vertical in the United States. Even while BigCommerce statistics indicates that the number of fashion and clothing brands worldwide is on the rise, there are a few things that firms should be aware of in order to achieve sustained success.
The focus must be on the customer.
The client experience—both online and offline—is possibly the most crucial area to concentrate on as the fashion and apparel verticals search for new growth opportunities. You can make sure that customers will keep returning to your business to make purchases by making sure their experience is optimized.
Finalization
A crucial stage in the e-commerce customer journey is checkout. A single mistake or annoyance can swiftly transform a potential sale into a bounce. Brands can design a customer-focused checkout process that converts quickly and effectively by removing friction.
In 2024, one-click checkout will show to be a useful addition to your checkout process as it is an efficient means of reducing friction. Cornell University research revealed that customers raised their spending by an average of 28.5% over time after registering for an online retailer’s “one-click” checkout service.
Increasing the number of payment alternatives on your website is another efficient technique to get rid of obstacles to conversion. The use of alternative payment methods such as purchase now, pay later (BNPL), digital wallets, and cryptocurrencies is growing. As a matter of fact, according to data from Capital One, about 50% of American consumers utilized BNPL in 2023.
Enhancing the Experience After Purchase
But your attention to the customer does not have to end at the register. In 2024, customers will have higher expectations for the post-purchase experience. Customers anticipate prompt shipment, thorough delivery status updates, an easy-to-return policy, and excellent customer support.
Using buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) and buy online, return in-store (BORIS), brands may increase customer satisfaction significantly and provide new chances for cross-selling and upselling when customers visit a physical location.
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Individualization
Brands should start utilizing AI and machine learning this year to better harness customer data in order to give out the right message at the right time in the right place. These technologies will continue to grow rapidly in 2023.
In addition to providing individualized pricing based on shoppers’ trips, brands may also utilize this consumer data to provide unique product recommendations. Brands can frequently persuade consumers to buy more quickly by providing tailored pricing as opposed to using discounts or discount codes.
Construct a cohesive, multichannel experience.
Omnichannel technology will advance beyond being a nice-to-have this year. Giving customers the flexibility to buy whenever and wherever they want—through social media, marketplaces, search engines, and even offline—is now a key component of a customer-centric strategy to e-commerce. According to Statista research, clothes accounted for 26% of social sales in 2023 and was the most popular product category across social media channels. This number is expected to rise by 2024.
Businesses that concentrate on bridging the gaps between their different channels—online, social media, marketplaces, affiliates, and in-store—will surely reap significant rewards. In fact, compared to single-channel shops, Capital One discovered that retailers utilizing three or more channels improve consumer involvement by 251%.
In order to reduce time and increase discoverability, feed management technologies such as Feedonomics may assist businesses and retailers in syncing product and catalog data across hundreds of channels.
The last statement
Even though 2023 was a bit uncertain, e-commerce sales of clothing and fashion showed no signs of stopping and are expected to continue growing on a global scale. While certain areas may see faster growth than others, the dynamic fashion and apparel verticals have a bright future ahead of them as long as economic indicators are positive.
