Clothing retailers benefit from surge in smartphone searches
New figures have revealed that UK consumers are making greater use than ever of handheld devices to shop online, particularly when it comes to buying clothes.
Data from the British Retail Consortium and Google show that the number of people using their smartphones to search for apparel rose by 54% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, tablet searches over the same period rose by 11%.
The figures also show that British shoppers are also increasingly looking abroad as well as at home to buy their clothes, with a 9% rise in consumers searching online for overseas clothes retailers.
However, UK fashion retailers benefited from a 10% increase in overseas shoppers searching online for UK apparel. Serbia, Slovakia and Hungary saw the most substantial growth rates in searches across all devices, driven by smartphones.
Peter Fitzgerald, retail director at Google, said: “Mobile continues to drive growth in the UK and this remains the case with apparel in the first quarter of the year. Interestingly, emerging markets still see strong growth from tablets, however smartphones supercharge growth for overseas consumers of UK brands.
“Multichannel retailers had a strong Q1, growing at 42% year-on-year. This reflects the increasing trend we see in the UK toward click-and-collect services. Consumers value the convenience of in-store collection, and particularly for apparel, the ability to easily return goods to store.
“Finally, the New Year saw an increase in sports and fitness apparel searches as Brits turn over a new leaf and focus on their health. Looking at the top queries we can see that wedding season is under way with engagement rings and wedding dresses trending on mobile devices.”
