Apparel most popular retail category across all channels

A new retail survey released by Onestop Internet revealed apparel is the most popular retail category across all channels and is also driving online growth.

Los Angeles based Onestop learned that 45 percent of respondents said they plan to buy more clothing online than any other retail category in the next 12 months.

A quarter of the survey respondents who did not make any online purchases within the last year said they plan to buy clothing online in the next 12 months, which indicates a growth opportunity for online apparel retailers.

The Onestop Survey revealed that of the 80 percent of respondents that reported making an apparel purchase within the last year, 75 percent said they had made an online garment purchase.

Additionally, 52 percent of those who had made an online apparel purchase last year said they plan to purchase more clothing online in the next year.

"We're seeing consumers that have never bought online expressing plans to take that first step with apparel, so now is really the time for clothing brands to invest in their eCommerce strategies and go after this untapped segment of shoppers," said Michael Wang, President and CEO of Onestop.

"Shoppers that might have historically been concerned about the fit of a clothing item can now order online knowing if something doesn't fit correctly they can return it easily and without an added cost, which makes a big difference in terms of confidence levels," said Wang. 

The survey was conducted by Survata, an independent research firm based in San Francisco. 1014 online respondents took the survey that was held across Survata networks. By taking the survey, respondents unlocked premium content like ebooks and articles.