What you need to know
Consumer spending on clothing has been falling in France and 2018 was a very difficult year, with a decline of 3% in the market to a total of €35.7 billion (including VAT). Sales through clothing specialists have been flat, albeit stronger than spending, and rose just 0.8% in 2018 to reach €29 billion (excluding VAT). The most important other channels for clothes purchases are the sports goods retailers and online sellers. The largest specialist group is now Inditex of Spain, since the Vivarte group has slimmed down to just two chains. Online continues to grow, but most of the traditional retailers are failing to keep up with the online-only specialists and the Inditex brands, in terms of their website presentation, payment and delivery options and use of technology.
Areas covered in this report
This report covers the clothing retail market in France, with a focus on clothing and fashion specialist retailers. The report does not cover non-specialists, such as hypermarkets, in detail although these are looked at briefly in the consumer research section.
The report combines analysis of the market in France, including market sizes, specialists’ sales and forecasts, along with our in-depth consumer data, which analyses shoppers’ behaviour. A number of relevant company profiles are also included.
For our consumer research this year we asked questions on the following topics:
Participation in online and in-store shopping for clothing in the last 12 months
Retailers used for clothing shopping in the last 12 months
Responses to a series of attitudinal statements relating to shopping for clothing.
For the purpose of this report, Mintel has used the following definitions:
Consumer spending: The total amount spent by French households (including sales tax) on clothing, via all channels, i.e. clothing shops, hypermarkets, online, at markets etc.
Retail sales: Total sales of all types of goods and services (excluding sales tax) via stores and directly to the consumer (mainly online) by specialist clothing retailers. It includes online sales of these retailers where the majority of sales are in bricks and mortar outlets.
