Fashion is key eBay growth sector says UK sales chief

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 27, 2017

Clothes, Shoes & Accessories was the biggest growth sector on eBay in the UK last year with 26% of all registrations coming from this category. And while London is traditionally seen as the home British fashion, data shows that all of the auction-site-turned-giant-marketplace’s top 20 performing fashion businesses are located outside of London.

That’s what Lorna Dunne, Head of Fashion Sales at eBay UK, told Fashion Network as she explained that online entrepreneurs are behind a booming fashion sector in the UK, even while many more traditional fashion retail businesses struggle.

“Gone are the days when wardrobes featured only high street favourites or darlings of the designer world,” she said. “Though fashion might once have been the preserve of big high street brands or labels, the rise of e-commerce has opened up opportunities for smaller outfits to step in and compete with the big players.”

Online platforms have empowered businesses everywhere to expand to reach more customers. “With low up-front costs, and the ability to start selling from a smartphone, e-commerce significantly lowers the barriers to entry,” Dunne said, adding that “this means that today, the fashion sector in the UK consists of a diverse community of small and large businesses – based anywhere from country villages to capital cities.”

And there is potential to grow bigger with almost 2,000 European eBay sellers across all categories turning over £1 million a year.

Dunne said the growth potential available to such entrepreneurs is linked to the industry becoming increasingly diverse as it responds to the changing demands of UK fashion consumers “who seek an ever broader range of styles and sizes to suit their tastes.”

This is a huge opportunity, particularly for online sellers looking to tap into highly specialised categories or reach a specific group of consumers that they wouldn’t be able to connect with offline.

“The flipside is that it’s more difficult to get to know your online audience,“ Dunne added. “It might be easy for a high street boutique to deliver the personal touch to every one of their customers by knowing their size and style. But it’s more challenging for an online business to demonstrate they understand their clientele’s preferences.”

TRACKING THE CUSTOMER

Dunne said that businesses that succeed on eBay do so partially by looking at customers’ previous buying behaviour online so they can anticipate what they might be interested in buying in the future. “By targeting consumers with offers that they know will suit their personal style, fashion businesses can boost their bottom line by building a loyal following,” she said.

She cited one business that opened on eBay eight years ago. The Lingerie Outlet store has seen its business growing 2,000% in the last two years with its co-founder Clare Haines having attributed that to “listening to our customers, being conscientious and consistently re-investing in the business.”

Dunne also said that anyone looking to build a fashion business via a marketplace needs to tap into social media and celebrity culture.  

“Fashion fans are increasingly seduced by [what] they see online,” she said with consumers responding very quickly to seeing a music/movie/TV/sports star in a new look.

“Annual events like Wimbledon or Glastonbury always spark a surge in interest. When Kim Murray stepped into the stands on Centre Court wearing a green crochet dress at [Andy] Murray’s first Wimbledon final, searches for ‘crochet dress’ on eBay soared by 37%.

“Capitalising on these real time trends by targeting your consumers with the right inventory at the right moment is an easy way to get ahead when selling online.”

And Dunne believes the recent fall in the value of Britain’s currency should be seen as a chance for small fashion business to grow rather than as a problem. “Businesses are waking up to the international opportunity, with over half (55%) of online businesses in the UK now exporting to four or more countries,” she said.