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The
growth rate of online fashion looks set to triple this year to
account for 23% of European sales in 2020, levels not expected
before 2024 prior to the pandemic, analysts at Bernstein said,
adding the market share could hit 37% by 2030.
"The sudden closure of all apparel retail stores across all
major global markets has shaken up the channel mix in an
unprecedented way this year," said Bernstein's Aneesha Sherman.
"(It's) five years' worth of growth achieved in about six
months."
Zalando, Europe's biggest online only fashion retailer, said
late on Wednesday it expects to significantly beat market
expectations for 16% second-quarter revenue growth and an
adjusted operating profit of 104 million euros ($117 million).
Zalando's shares were up 5.65% by 0904 GMT, bringing their
year-to-date gain to more than 40%.
British rival ASOS was also up almost 5%, after shares in Boohoo
soared on Wednesday when it said it would top market
expectations this year after a 45% rise in first-quarter
revenue.
Boohoo, which owns the Nasty Gal and prettylittlething brands,
also said it was buying the online businesses of struggling
British bricks-and-mortar brands Oasis and Warehouse after last
year buying Karen Millen and Coast.
Zalando said it had been helped by its strategy of becoming a
marketplace for brands, offering them marketing and logistics
services, rather than just selling stock on its website.
Zara-owner Inditex, the world's biggest fashion retailer, said
last week it expects online sales to make up a quarter of its
sales by 2022, compared to 14% now, after a 95% surge in
lockdown conditions in April.
H&M reported on Monday its group sales halved in March-May and
were down 30% in the first 13 days of June even as stores
started to reopen. Online sales jumped 36% in March-May.
But there are still some bright spots in brick-and-mortar
retailing. Discount fashion retailer Primark, owned by
Associated British Foods, attracted long lines of shoppers on
Monday as shops reopened in England.
Bernstein's Sherman notes that people still love shopping in
stores as they can see and feel what they are buying, and they
can seek out bargains at places like Primark that do not sell
online.
"Stores will also offer a much-needed outlet for discretionary
time, money, and social interaction this year. All the other
usual alternatives will remain largely off the table for a
little while longer," she wrote.
($1 = 0.8916 euros)
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; editing by Jason Neely)
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