E-commerce Apparel Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Deployment of AI Technology - Retailers should have several potential to improve customer service, inventory management, pricing, customization, and security as a result of the implementation of AI in the e-commerce clothing business. Chatbots with AI capabilities can offer automated customer support, assisting clients with their questions and issues around the clock. By doing this, customer support agents' workloads may be decreased and client satisfaction raised. For instance, Walmart announced in March 2022 the introduction of a virtual try-on service for apparel driven by AI for online consumers, specifically for Walmart's mobile app. Try-ons are available for sizes XS to XXXL on the virtual technology service; the firm plans to increase the variety of models it provides shortly.

• Growth in Online Retail Sales During Pandemic - There has been a significant increase in online retail sales of clothing during the pandemic. On the other hand, store sales dropped at the peak of the epidemic and remained below their levels before the COVID-19 crisis. Because clothing stores were exposed to socially restrictive measures, customers' behavior in large countries such as the US and UK was negatively affected which drove people away from brick-and-mortar shops and led to an increase in online retail sales due to a pandemic.

Challenges

• Risk Associated with Cybersecurity - Loss of sensitive customer information may result from a data breach, which can lead to an economic loss and damage to reputation. To deceive customers into providing their personal or banking information, they may use fraudulent emails and websites. The risk of cybercrime hinders consumers from shopping on e-shop websites; this is a major barrier to growth in the online retail clothing market.
• High competition is expected to hinder the e-commerce apparel market growth in the upcoming period
• Sustainability issues associated are expected to hamper the market growth in the projected period