Apparel E Commerce Statistics

Consumers cite “lower prices/discounts” as a key reason for shopping online for apparel (percentage not provided here) [1]

In a global survey, 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses (category-agnostic) [2]

54% of online apparel shoppers in the U.S. say they have returned items in the past year [3]

55% of online shoppers say they would buy more if returns were free [4]

21% of consumers say they shop online because there’s less time pressure [5]

66% of shoppers say they would abandon a website that has too much trouble or delay (retail websites) [6]

87% of consumers say brands should show them how to use their products (apparel accessories behavior proxy) [7]

52% of consumers expect companies to understand their needs and preferences (category-agnostic) [8]

34% of consumers say they buy because of influencer marketing (survey; general e-commerce) [9]

55% of consumers say social media influences what they buy (survey; general retail) [10]

35% of U.S. consumers say they use mobile apps to shop for clothing (survey) [11]

42% of U.S. shoppers say they use smartphones to research products before buying online/in-store [12]

37% of shoppers say they use size charts online to decide whether to buy apparel [13]

38% of consumers say returns are the biggest pain point of online shopping (general) [14]

61% of consumers say they abandon purchases if shipping costs are too high (general) [15]

26% of consumers say they only buy online when there is a promotion (general) [16]

In the U.S., 16% of returns are due to “changed mind” (general) [17]

48% of consumers say delivery speed is very important (general) [18]

60% of consumers expect delivery updates via email/text/push (general) [19]

Free shipping threshold: 64% of U.S. consumers say they look at free shipping thresholds before buying (general) [20]

59% of consumers say they want return labels included in the package (general) [21]

67% of retailers say returns are a top operational challenge (survey) [22]

95% of apparel retailers offer returns [23]

92% of consumers check a retailer’s return policy before purchasing (general) [24]

82% of consumers are more likely to shop with a retailer that offers a hassle-free return policy [25]

49% of consumers consider delivery cost as a key factor (general) [26]

45% of shoppers abandon checkout due to unexpected shipping costs (general) [27]

36% of shoppers say they will not purchase again from an online retailer after a bad delivery experience (general) [28]

58% of consumers want to track their order in real time (general) [29]

35% of consumers say they prefer same-day delivery for apparel purchases (survey) [30]

42% of consumers say they would pay more for faster delivery (general) [31]

51% of consumers say they use delivery tracking to decide whether to stay home to receive packages (general) [32]

Cash on Delivery (COD) usage is common in apparel e-commerce in emerging markets; e.g., COD share can exceed 50% in some countries (market report) [33]

UPI share in India digital payments reached about 46% in 2023 (relevant to payment rails for e-commerce) [34]

Card payment share in e-commerce globally is about 54% (global payments report) [35]

Digital wallets accounted for about 40% of e-commerce transactions in some markets (global report) [36]

PayPal usage for online purchases is substantial; in 2023 PayPal processed $1T+ in total payment volume (company metric) [37]

55% of consumers say they need product details to make a purchase decision (general) [38]

45% of consumers say they are more likely to purchase if there are user-generated photos (general) [39]

In the U.S., mobile commerce accounted for 4.1% of total retail sales in 2020 [40]

U.S. e-commerce conversion rate was about 2.4% in 2021 (average) [41]

Average cart abandonment rate in e-commerce was about 69% (global) [42]

53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load [43]

57% of users say they will not recommend a company with a poorly designed website (general) [44]

79% of shoppers who search on mobile take action within 24 hours (general) [45]

40% of shoppers abandon mobile sites that don’t load quickly (general) [46]

82% of consumers expect sites to load in under 3 seconds [47]

The average desktop page load time in the U.S. across industries was about 4.2 seconds (2022) [48]

Retailers lose 1% of revenue for every additional second of load time (general) [49]

70% of marketers say optimizing conversion is a top priority (survey) [50]

68% of online shoppers say they prefer to buy from websites with clear product images (general apparel relevance) [51]

72% of consumers say they want personalization in shopping experiences (general) [52]

40% of online shoppers use search on retailers’ websites before purchase (general) [53]

Site search can increase conversion rates by 1.5x (general) [54]

On average, A/B testing can increase conversion rates by 20% (general e-commerce) [55]

For apparel retailers, adding “fit” and “size recommendation” features increased conversion (example stat) [56]

30% of online apparel purchases are influenced by product reviews (survey) [57]

88% of online shoppers expect to be able to view product images in high resolution (general) [58]

35% of shoppers use ratings and reviews to compare products (survey) [59]

Google Shopping (Product listings ads) drives a large share of online apparel traffic in paid search; example: “Shopping campaigns generated 44% of clicks” (industry report) [60]

54% of social shoppers use social platforms to research products (survey) [61]

40% of consumers say they discover products through social media (survey) [62]

TikTok drove 61% of users to discover a product (survey) [63]

73% of marketers use influencer marketing (survey) [64]

Influencer marketing has an ROI of $5.78 per $1 spent (industry benchmark) [65]

63% of consumers trust influencers (survey) [66]

70% of consumers say they prefer to watch a video about a product before buying (general) [67]

47% of consumers expect personalized product recommendations (general) [68]

44% of shoppers say ads are more effective when they show relevant products (general) [69]

Retailers spend the majority of digital ad budgets on search and social; (budget shares) [70]

U.S. digital ad spend reached $200B+ in 2023 (overall) [71]

Social media ad spend in the U.S. was about $61B in 2023 (overall) [72]

Search ad spend in the U.S. was about $144B in 2023 (overall) [73]

U.S. TikTok ad spend reached about $8B in 2023 (overall) [74]

Email marketing ROI is reported as $36 per $1 (benchmark) [75]

81% of retail professionals use email for marketing (survey) [76]

42% of consumers say they have purchased something from an email marketing promotion (survey) [77]

33% of consumers say they have visited a website via social media (survey) [78]

27% of consumers say they use Instagram Stories to decide on purchases (survey) [79]

21% of consumers say they use TikTok shop to purchase products (survey) [80]

38% of consumers say they’d be willing to pay more for brands with a strong online presence (survey) [81]

34% of online shoppers say they shop based on seasonal promotions (general) [82]

24% of consumers say they purchased due to a limited-time offer online (survey) [83]

U.S. online shoppers who purchased shoes were 50% in 2021 [84]

Apparel & accessories eCommerce sales in the U.S. are forecast to reach about $186.0B in 2025 [85]

Apparel & accessories eCommerce sales share in the U.S. eCommerce market is about 15.9% (2019) [86]

U.S. eCommerce retail sales forecast for 2027 is about $1.44T [87]

2023 e-commerce apparel & footwear revenue in South Korea was about $22B [88]

E-commerce share of global apparel and footwear sales is about 5.4% in 2018 [89]

Retail sales in the U.S. via e-commerce accounted for about 10.2% of total retail sales in 2017 [90]

U.S. apparel and accessories spending per capita online in 2017 was about $242 [91]

Average order value (AOV) for apparel e-commerce in the U.S. was about $50.00 in 2021 [92]

Apparel e-commerce orders per buyer per year in the U.S. was about 8.6 in 2022 [93]

Share of U.S. consumers buying apparel online was about 71% in 2021 [94]

Share of consumers in the U.S. buying clothes/footwear online in the last 12 months was 59% in 2022 (from survey data) [95]

E-commerce share of apparel and footwear sales in the UK is about 30% in 2023 [96]

UK apparel and footwear e-commerce sales forecast to reach about $25B in 2024 [97]

Apparel e-commerce buyer penetration in the EU-27 is about 47% in 2021 [98]

2020: US online retail sales were $792.6B [99]