No Turn On Red

The New York Times is reporting that, today, the trade organization Shop.org will release a report saying that, in 2006, apparel outsold computer hardware online while still offering tremendous room to grow sales:

In 2006, revenue from skirts, suits and shoes reached $18.3 billion, surpassing that from PCs, printers and word-processing programs, which totaled $17.2 billion, according to a report to be released today by a major trade group.

The surging popularity of clothing on the Web defies predictions that fashion — which is hard enough to buy in stores, with the aid of sales clerks and fitting rooms — would be difficult, if not impossible, to translate onto the Internet.

[...]

Consumers are still largely reluctant to buy clothing online, at least compared with products like computers. In 2006, they made only 8 percent of all clothing purchases on the Web, compared with 41 percent of computers, 21 percent of books and 15 percent of baby supplies, according to the Shop.org report, which was prepared by Forrester Research.

This is great news for apparel retailers and very good news for e-tailers (does anyone still use that term?). Since the overall saturation percentage is still low, online, that means retailers still have tons of room to grow their interactive marketing.

With the rise of web sales, I hope that more brick and mortar retailers further their commitment to e-commerce and continue to realize the power of the Internet not only for sales, but also for a means to interact with consumers.

More from the New York Times (see: Less Risk Is Seen in Buying Clothes Online).

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