Men heading overseas to shop

Over half of the $2.4billion that Australians (14+) spent buying men’s and women’s clothing online last year went to locally based retailers

But it seems overseas is still the site for menswear, online shopping expenditure data from Roy Morgan Research shows.

Of the total spend, $1.4 billion (56%) went to Australian-based sites and $1 billion (44%) went overseas.

Local retailers’ higher share of the online clothes market comes courtesy of women.

Women spent over $1 billion on clothes through Australian online stores last year, compared with $550 million on international sites.

Conversely, Australian men favour international sites for clothes shopping—but their total expenditure is only around half of women’s.

As shown above, Australians spent $1.6 billion in 2015 on women’s clothes online—and 89% of that came from women.

That is, $961million was spent on womenswear via local operators and $439million via overseas online retailers.

The other $179 million came from men buying women’s clothes online, but unlike women they favoured international sites, spending just $75 million locally and $104 million overseas.

All up, two-thirds of all the dollars Australians spent on women’s clothes online went to local retailers.

But in menswear, it’s a different story.

The online menswear market was worth $835 million last year—and over 60% went overseas.

Men spent $393 million buying men’s clothes from overseas sites, compared with $228 million through Australian online stores.

Women also favoured international internet stores for menswear: they spent $111 million on men’s clothes from overseas and $103 million through local retailers.

Roy Morgan Research CEO Michele Levine said there is a clear difference between the sexes.

“Australians spent over $2.4 billion on clothes over the internet in 2015, and this doesn’t even include footwear or children’s clothes. While 56% of the market stayed in Australia, just over a billion dollars went to overseas online clothing retailers.

“There is clear difference between womenswear and menswear when it comes to how much of our expenditure stays local.

"Two thirds of Australians’ spend on women’s clothes online (nearly all of which came from women, of course) was through local sites. But for menswear, 61% of our expenditure went overseas—and both men and women shoppers favour international sites for men’s clothes.

“Together, all this suggests that Australian men’s clothing retailers need to catch up to the women’s. 

"It may be that the pricing, quality, range and brands available on local menswear sites are simply not up to scratch in the new international marketplace, especially among fashion-conscious, tech-savvy and cashed-up consumers.

The menswear market may not be as big, but Aussie men are spending around $620 million a year buying men’s clothes online—for almost $400million of that (plus another $111 million from women buying men’s clothes) to be clicked away to overseas is a big missed opportunity for local retailers.

“With the Aussie dollar expected to pull back over the next couple of years, it would seem the ideal time for established local menswear retailers and start-ups to work to claim back some this half a billion dollars.

"Online clothing leaders such as The Iconic should also investigate why many of their target customers still seem to head to overseas sites for clothes.”