Here are the top retailers by customer numbers, market share and average spend.
According to the latest research from Roy Morgan Single Source, market share does not neccessarily correlate to the average amount each shopper spends per item.
In any given four-week period, 10.6 million Australians aged 14+ buy at least one piece of clothing.
Nearly one quarter of them (23.1%) purchase something at Kmart, making it the country’s most popular clothing retailer in terms of sheer customer volume.
Target also attracts heavy customer traffic (20.5% of all people buying clothes in an average four weeks), as do Big W (18.0%) and Myer (10.7%).
Five of these popular stores also feature among the six retailers with the largest share of total dollars spent on clothing in an average four weeks.
However, there is a marked difference in their rankings, with Myer accounting for the largest dollar share of the market (8.3%), ahead of Target (7.7%), Kmart (6.7%) and Big W (6.2%).
Taking 4.9% of total dollars spent in an average four weeks, David Jones slots into fifth place.
Despite having the third-largest share of clothing shoppers, Best & Less slips to sixth when viewed in terms of overall dollar share.
When it comes to average amount spent per item, the playing field changes.
David Jones emerges on top, with its customers spending around $119 per item in any given four weeks.
Country Road’s customers are also among the biggest spenders per item ($113), while only a few dollars separate Myer ($87) and Noni B ($83) shoppers.
Although stores such as Kmart, Big W and Target may be heavy-hitters in other ways, they rank relatively low for average spend.
Roy Morgan Research general manager of consumer goods Andrew Price said there are interesting insights for retailers.
“There are many different ways to measure a clothing retailer’s place in the market: customer numbers, market share and average spend are just a few.
“Our findings confirm that while a high volume of customers often leads to a higher market share, it doesn’t appear to have a lot of bearing on the average amount each shopper spends per item.
“The key for clothing retailers is to understand exactly who their shoppers are: from their age and life stage to their financial circumstances. Customers of stores like Kmart, Target and Big W are most likely to be under 35 and married with kids – and thus likely to appreciate the lower prices of these discount department stores.
“In contrast, David Jones and Myer shoppers are most likely to be older (between 50 and 64 years) and live in childless households, often with higher discretionary spending power -- very handy for shopping at the higher-end department stores."