Highlights. The global apparel market will generate an estimated $1.79 trillion in 2024, with the U.S. accounting for 20.0% of the total market share. 

  • 20.9% of fashion retail sales worldwide are e-commerce transactions, for a total global revenue of approximately $374.1 billion
  • Between 2022 and 2025, experts predict a 10% CAGR* for fashion e-commerce in the U.S., 20% less than the market growth from 2019 to 2020.
  • 75.9% of e-commerce apparel shopping carts are abandoned, meaning the customer did not purchase the items.

*Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is the average yearly market growth for a specific period.

Bar Graph: Quarterly Clothing eCommerce Sales from 2021 Q1 ($14.4 billion) to 2024 Q1 ($16.8 billion) according to the U.S. Census Bureau

Clothing eCommerce Growth

The global fashion e-commerce market is worth $781.5 billion and is expected to reach $1.13 trillion by 2027.

  • U.S. retail e-commerce accounts for 15.6% of all retail sales. From 2018 to 2023, the proportion of e-commerce sales rose by 69.7%.
  • 0.88% of all retail trade in the United States is clothing and accessory e-commerce, 25.6% more than in 2018. 
  • It is predicted that apparel and footwear will account for 3.36% less of the total U.S. e-commerce market by 2027.
  • Online clothing shopping spikes by approximately 47.7% yearly during the fourth-quarter holiday shopping season.
  • Between 2023 and 2024, there was a 0.58% increase in fashion and apparel website visits, a more significant increase than in any other retail sector.

Line Graph: U.S. Apparel & Footwear eCommerce Market Share from 2017 to 2022 with projections to 2027 according to Statista

U.S. Apparel eCommerce Statistics

Clothing and accessories account for 5.63% of all e-commerce sales in the United States.

  • The total revenue of the U.S. apparel market is $358.7 billion, including online and in-store purchases. 
  • Fashion e-commerce accounts for an estimated $145.2 billion or 40.5% of the total apparel market revenue.
  • eCommerce accounts for 14.7% of all clothing and general merchandise sales in the U.S. 
  • 20.2% of all online retail sales in the U.S. are fashion and apparel purchases. 
  • In the United States, 58.2% of mobile clothing shoppers are women.
  • Women’s apparel is the largest clothing and accessory category, accounting for 68.5% of all e-commerce clothing revenue in the U.S.
  • The U.S. online clothing resale market is expected to reach $350 billion by 2028, growing three times as fast as secondhand fashion overall.

Bar Graph: Largest Global Apparel eCommerce Markets according to Common Thread Collective

Global Fashion eCommerce Statistics

Chinese fast fashion company Shein.com is the world’s most popular apparel website, with a 2.63% share of all online clothing website visits.

  • 57% of internet users worldwide have purchased clothing or accessories online.
  • Asia has the largest fashion e-commerce market in the world at $345.6 billion in yearly revenue.
  • 24% of Asian fashion sales are made online, fueling this market’s expected growth of 50.7% to $520.9 billion by 2029.
  • China represents the largest fashion e-commerce market with a market value of $427 million, 17.3% larger than the U.S. market size. 
  • The United Kingdom has the third-largest e-commerce apparel market, valued at $70 million, 5.2 times smaller than the U.S. market.

Pie Charts: Global Apparel Cart Abandonment according to Dynamic Yield and and Return Rates according to McKinsey

Cart Abandonment and Return Statistics

Fashion e-commerce has a 3.64% higher cart abandonment rate than the average for all industries. 

  • Unexpected fees such as shipping costs lead 55% of shoppers to abandon their carts, while 21% do not complete their purchases due to complicated checkout.
  • Online apparel orders have a 20.8% chance of being returned to the seller. 
  • After accounting for shipping, processing, and other expenses related to buying apparel online, retailers lose $21 to $46 per returned product.
  • The primary reason consumers return clothing they purchased online is that it didn’t fit properly at 38%; 15% return clothes because the items did not suit them. 
  • 47% of consumers say they do not like online shopping because they cannot see the items in person. 
  • The average conversion rate* for fashion e-commerce purchases is 3.57%
  • Compared to the global conversion rate for all industries, fashion e-commerce has a 0.33% smaller chance of a site visit resulting in a purchase.
  • The average add-to-cart rate** for consumers shopping online for apparel and accessories is 7.66%.

*Conversion rate is the percentage of website visits that result in a purchase.

**Add-to-cart rate is the percentage of items added to the customer’s cart after viewing the product page.

Grouped Bar Graph: Devides Used Worldwide to Shop Online by Industry average online traffic according to Dynamic Yield

Fashion eCommerce Consumer Behavior

Online shoppers are 5.68% less likely to purchase clothing and accessories online than other retail items. 

  • On average, consumers who purchase e-commerce apparel spend $4.58 more per order than when buying other categories of goods online.
  • The average number of apparel items ordered in a single transaction is 2.88, the lowest of all shopping categories. 
  • Consumers spend an average of $50.79 per apparel item purchased online. 
  • Social media influences 32% of Americans in the clothing and accessories they purchase.
  • 80% of fashion e-commerce site traffic comes from consumers using mobile devices.
  • Consumers shopping for apparel are 7.02% more likely to use a mobile device than for general online shopping. 
  • Younger consumers are more likely to shop for clothing on a mobile device. Americans aged 18 to 34 make up 79.6% of mobile clothing shoppers.
  • 65% of consumers born between 1997 and 2013, commonly called Gen Z, purchased secondhand apparel online in the past year. 
  • Clothing is the most common online impulse purchase for women, with 57% of women purchasing apparel online on impulse. 

These data and insights were compiled by the Capital One Shopping team based on publicly available data.

Sources

  1. McKinsey & Company, The State of Fashion 2023: Holding onto growth as global clouds gather
  2. Grand View Research, E-commerce Apparel Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report
  3. Statista, Markets
  4. Civic Science, Apparel, and E-Commerce Industry Report
  5. U.S Department of Commerce, Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales
  6. Dynamic Yield, Explore eCommerce statistics and KPI benchmarks to see how you stack up
  7. Common Thread Collective,10 Trends Styling 2023’s Ecommerce Fashion Industry: Growth and Data in Online Apparel & Accessories Market
  8. ThreadUP, Resale Report