Insight: sales of fashion accessories down in 2017
New figures have revealed that the share of UK clothing shoppers that purchased accessories fell from 50.6% in 2016 to 40.9% in 2017.
According to the figures from GlobalData, this equates to four million fewer consumers and £390 million in lost revenue.
The company’s latest report, ‘The UK Accessories Market 2017-2022’, shows that this is based on an average annual spend per head of £98, and led to a volume decline of 0.8% in 2017 compared to a flat performance in 2016.
Honor Strachan, principal retail analyst at Global Data, said: “Replacement purchases are now the main trigger of purchasing accessories among domestic shoppers, compared to consumers spending to treat themselves. This puts huge pressure on retailers to encourage trading up, or to diversify to make up for absent sales.”
GlobalData said consumers will extend replacement cycles during periods of restrained discretionary spending.
Strachan added: “While the premium and luxury segments of the UK fashion accessories market bask in the attention of high-spending overseas visitors, the mass market players are suffering from a major drop in domestic consumer willingness.”
The data was amassed from a survey of 5,000 UK shoppers.
