Highlights. The global apparel market generated an estimated $1.74 trillion in 2023, with the U.S. accounting for 20.2% of the total market share.
- 20.5% of fashion retail sales worldwide are e-commerce transactions, for a total global revenue of approximately $357.4 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.
- 77.5% 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.
Clothing eCommerce Growth
The global fashion e-commerce market is worth $821 billion and is expected to reach over $1.2 trillion by 2027.
- U.S. retail e-commerce accounts for 14.9% of all retail sales. From 2018 to 2023, the proportion of e-commerce sales rose by 61.7%.
- 0.92% of all retail trade in the United States is clothing and accessory e-commerce, 31.2% more than in 2018.
- It is predicted that apparel and footwear will account for 4.92% less of the total U.S. e-commerce market by 2027.
- Online clothing shopping spikes by approximately 46.2% yearly during the fourth-quarter holiday shopping season.
- Between 2022 and 2023, there was a 0.56% increase in fashion and apparel website visits, a more significant increase than in any other retail sector.
U.S. Apparel eCommerce Statistics
Clothing and accessories account for 6.18% of all e-commerce sales in the United States.
- The total revenue of the U.S. apparel market is $351.4 billion, including online and in-store purchases.
- Fashion e-commerce accounts for an estimated $207.7 million or 0.59% of the total apparel market revenue.
- eCommerce accounts for 13.3% of all clothing and general merchandise sales in the U.S.
- 21.4% 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 $38 billion by 2027, growing twice as fast as secondhand fashion overall.
Global Fashion eCommerce Statistics
Chinese fast fashion company Shein.com is the world’s most popular apparel website, with a 3.8% 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 $148.8 billion in yearly revenue.
- Nearly 40% of Asian fashion sales are made online, fueling this market’s expected growth of 47.4% to $462.4 billion by 2028.
- 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.
Cart Abandonment and Return Statistics
Fashion e-commerce has a 7.45% 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 3.11%.
- Compared to the global conversion rate for all industries, fashion e-commerce has a 6.02% 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 7.45%.
*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.
Fashion eCommerce Consumer Behavior
Online shoppers are 11.4% less likely to purchase clothing and accessories online than other retail items.
- On average, consumers who purchase e-commerce apparel spend $24 more per order than when buying other categories of goods online.
- The average number of apparel items ordered in a single transaction is 2.75, the lowest of all shopping categories.
- Consumers spend an average of $50.45 per apparel item purchased online.
- Social media influences 32% of Americans in the clothing and accessories they purchase.
- 77% of fashion e-commerce site traffic comes from consumers using mobile devices.
- Consumers shopping for apparel are 8.4% 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
- 58% 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% purchasing apparel online on impulse.
These data and insights were compiled by the Capital One Shopping team based on publicly available data.
Sources
- McKinsey & Company, The State of Fashion 2023: Holding onto growth as global clouds gather
- Grand View Research, E-commerce Apparel Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report
- Statista, Markets
- Civic Science, Apparel, and E-Commerce Industry Report
- U.S Department of Commerce, Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales
- Dynamic Yield, Explore eCommerce statistics and KPI benchmarks to see how you stack up
- Common Thread Collective,10 Trends Styling 2023’s Ecommerce Fashion Industry: Growth and Data in Online Apparel & Accessories Market
- ThreadUP, Resale Report 2023