HIGH STREETS
sortium said: “While the internet offers convenience and choice to many fashion-conscious consumers, many shoppers prefer the experience and the ability to try products on in-store.
“The BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor shows 30 per cent of clothing sales are now done online and that share will continue to grow.
“However, most of those sales are made at the websites of retailers who also have store networks – underlining the importance for fashion retailers of getting their stores and web shops to work seamlessly.”
The Daily Express is rallying behind town centre trade with our Save Our High Streets crusade, amid the loss of 68,000 UK retail jobs in the past year.
Yesterday’s research also found that, perhaps surprisingly, men are hitting the high street hardest, with more than six in 10 – 62 per cent – saying they still like to try on clothes in-store, compared with 60 per cent of women.
On average, women buy six per cent more of their clothes online, while three in four men buy less than half of their clothes on the web.
Those who buy more than 70 per cent of their clothes online still like to try them on in-store, with more than half saying they like to go into the shops as well.
Mr Lucas said: “In the same way books have enjoyed a resurgence thanks to the experience of leafing through a much-loved paperback, the experience of heading to the shops will never be replaced by browsing online for new clothes.”