Online Apparel Sales See Double-Digit Growth

摘要

Online sales are growing in the double-digits annually, and apparel consistently ranks among the top product categories sold via the Internet, despite limitations such as the inability to physically try on and touch a garment in the e-tail shopping realm. Online sales still represent a tiny piece of the overall retail pie. Estimates put online retail sales at almost 2 percent to 5 percent of overall retail revenue, and some project online sales will top out at about 10 percent of overall sales. But even so, online apparel e-tailing alone is now a multibillion-dollar business. Mark Kingdon, head of fashion Web site development firm Organic Inc., which has helped Tommy Hil-figer, Reebok and Armani Exchange build their Web sites, said he sees apparel online sales continuing to grow in double digits for the foreseeable future. Likewise, Web site developer Evocative Inc., the technology provider behind apparel e-tail sites such as shopbop.com and that of L.A. independent apparel retailer Stella Bella, said: "I see explosive growth in [the apparel] industry.... There's a lot of head room there."