Italy Clothing Retailing Market Report 2020
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Report Summary
Everything you need to make the right decisions
Providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date information and analysis of the Clothing Retailing – Italy market including the behaviours, preferences and habits of the consumer.
Mintel has the answers you’re looking for
What are the key challenges facing the industry? Who is the consumer and what do they want? Where are the opportunities, where are the risks and what lies ahead?
Covered in this report
The clothing retailing industry in Italy has gone through an unprecedented period of upheaval in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, consequent national lockdown and closure of all non-essential stores (including clothing stores) for around two months. Mintel predicts that spending on clothing and footwear will decline by 16% to just under €44 billion during the year. The outbreak has hastened the existing shift away from stores to online. Although stores remain the most popular place to buy clothing, around a quarter of consumers say they have been worried about visiting clothing stores since the start of the crisis.
Expert analysis from a specialist in the field
Written by Michael Oliver, a leading analyst in the Retail sector, his extensive knowledge delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends and add expert context to the numbers.
The severe shock caused to clothing retailers by the COVID-19 outbreak looks to set to have longer-term implications, with a sizeable proportion of consumers still worried about visiting stores. Retailers will therefore need to offer their customers a truly multi-channel range of options for purchasing, with a particular focus on building up their online offer. The ongoing economic situation looks set to bring higher unemployment and reduced spending power for consumers. This will place an even greater emphasis on value.
Michael Oliver
Senior Retail Analyst
Table of Contents
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Overview
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- Key issues covered in this Report
- Areas covered in this Report
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Executive summary
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- The market
- Consumer spending
- Figure 1: Italy: annual percentage change in consumer spending on clothing and footwear, 2015-20
- Sector size and forecast
- Figure 2: Italy: Specialist clothing retailers’ sales (excluding VAT), 2014-20
- Channels of distribution
- Figure 3: Italy: Estimated distribution of spending on clothing and footwear by channel, 2019
- Companies and brands
- Key metrics
- Market shares
- Figure 4: Italy: Leading specialist clothing retailers’ sales as % all spending on clothing and footwear, 2019
- Online
- The consumer
- How they shop for clothes
- Figure 5: Italy: Channels used for buying clothes, June 2019 vs June 2020
- Retailers bought from
- Figure 6: Italy: Specialist retailers used for buying clothes in the past 12 months, June 2020
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- Figure 7: Italy: Non-specialist retailers used for buying clothes in the past 12 months, June 2020
- Clothes shopping behaviours relating to COVID-19
- Figure 8: Italy: clothing shopping behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic, June 2020
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The Impact of COVID-19 on Clothing Retailing
- Short, medium and long-term impact on the sector
- Figure 9: Short, medium and long term impact of COVID-19 on Clothing retailing, October 2020
- Opportunities and threats
- COVID-19 brings online to the forefront
- Figure 10: Decathlon’s ‘scan & go’ service, 2020
- Providing a feeling of shopping in-store from home
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- Figure 11: Gucci’s personalised virtual shopping, June 2020
- Athleisure versus formalwear
- How COVID-19 will reshape the industry
- Sustainability in fashion gains further relevance
- Figure 12: Zalando announces ‘Pre Owned’ category, 2020
- Risk of lower profitability due to discounts and promotions
- Discounters strengthen their position in clothing
- Figure 13: Aldi’s new fashion campaign in Germany, 2020
- The forecast for clothing retailing improving from 2021
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- Figure 14: Europe Big Five: Total specialist clothing retailers’ sales and forecast, 2015-25
- Figure 15: Europe Big Five: Total specialist clothing retailers’ sales and forecast, by country, 2015-25
- The impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour across Europe
- Concern about exposure to COVID-19 steady but showing signs of increasing
- Figure 16: Europe: Those extremely worried about the risk of being exposed to COVID-19, March-October 2020*
- Many cutting back on non-essential purchases
- Time-limiting store visits places premium on in-store navigation
- Many consumers reluctant to use cash
- A big switch to online
- Figure 17: Europe: Changes to shopping behaviour since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, September/October 2020*
- Clothing slips down the spending agenda
- Figure 18: Europe: Net balance* of expected spending on selected items in the next month, September/October 2020**
- Trying on clothing in-store remains an issue
- Figure 19: Europe: people who would feel uncomfortable trying on clothing in-store, September/October 2020*
- People not keen on handling/touching products in-store
- Figure 20: Europe: people who would feel uncomfortable handling/touching products in-store, September/October 2020*
- How the crisis is impacting on key consumer segments
- Women and older age groups most concerned about the virus
- Figure 21: Europe: Those extremely worried about the risk of being exposed to COVID-19, by gender and age, September/October 2020*
- Women and older age groups also trying to limit time in-store
- Figure 22: Europe: consumers trying to limit the time they spend in-store, by gender and age, September/October 2020*
- Youngest age groups most likely to be shopping more online
- Figure 23: Europe: consumers shopping more online, by age and gender, September/October 2020*
- COVID-19: Market context
- UK
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Spain
- Short, medium and long-term impact on the sector
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Issues and insights
- What lessons can Italian clothing and footwear retailers learn from COVID-19?
- How can clothing specialists prosper when consumer confidence is weak?
- What lessons can Italian clothing and footwear retailers learn from COVID-19?
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The market – Key takeaways
- Italian economy was weak before COVID-19
- Weak economy hits discretionary spending harder
- Specialists disproportionately affected by impact of COVID-19
- Specialists set to lose market share in 2020
- Italian economy was weak before COVID-19
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Consumer spending
- The economy
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- Figure 24: Italy: Consumer spending on clothing and footwear (incl. VAT), 2015-20
- Retailer and consumer confidence
- Figure 25: Italy: Consumer and retailer confidence levels, September 2019-September 2020
- The economy
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Sector size and forecast
- Retail sales
- Figure 26: Italy: Specialist clothing retailers, sales (excl. VAT), 2015-20
- Figure 27: Italy: Specialist clothing retailers, forecast sales (excl. VAT), 2020-25
- Retail sales
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Inflation
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- Figure 28: Italy: Consumer prices* of clothing and footwear, Annual % change, 2015-19
- Figure 29: Italy: Consumer prices of clothing and footwear, Annual % change, January 2019 –August 2020
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Channels of distribution
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- Specialists lose out during lockdown
- Figure 30: Italy: Estimated distribution of spending on clothing and footwear by channel, 2019
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Companies and brands – Key takeaways
- Inditex leads the way
- OVS least prepared for online growth
- A fragmented market
- Online still small in clothing but main players are gearing up
- Inditex leads the way
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Leading players
- Inditex leads the way
- OVS slow to develop online
- Others
- Figure 31: Italy: Leading specialist clothing retailers, sales (excl. VAT), 2015-19
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- Figure 32: Italy: Leading specialist clothing retailers, outlets, 2015-19
- Sales per outlet
- Figure 33: Italy: Leading specialist clothing retailers, sales per outlet, 2015-19
- Inditex leads the way
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Market shares
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- Figure 34: Italy: Leading specialist clothing retailers, sales as % all spending on clothing and footwear, 2015-19
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Online
- Online activity
- Figure 35: Italy: Broadband connections (percentage of households), 2015-19
- Shopping for clothing online
- Figure 36: Italy: Online purchasing, 2015-19
- Online market size
- Leading online players
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- Figure 37: Italy: Leading retailers’ estimated clothing sales online, 2019
- Online activity
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The consumer – Key takeaways
- Most Italians still like to shop in-store
- Big jump in online buying among younger men
- PCs and laptops still favoured device for online orders
- Strength of OVS brand comes from universality of its appeal
- Online-only players well-placed to capitalise on migration online
- Nearly a quarter of customers are worried about visiting clothing stores
- Most Italians still like to shop in-store
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How they shop for clothes
- Channels used for buying clothes
- Figure 38: Italy: Channels used for buying clothes, June 2019 vs June 2020
- Big jump in online purchasing among men, particularly younger men
- Figure 39: Italy: Online channel used for buying clothes by gender and age, June 2019 vs June 2020
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- Figure 40: Italy: Channels and device used for buying clothes, detailed breakdown, June 2020
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- Figure 41: Italy: Channels used for buying clothes, by age group, June 2020
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- Figure 42: Italy: Channels and device used for buying clothes, detailed breakdown, by age, June 2020
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- Figure 43: Italy: Channels used for buying clothes, by presence of children in the household, June 2020
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- Figure 44: Italy: In-store versus online clothes shopping behaviour in the past 12 months, June 2020
- Channels used for buying clothes
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Where they shop for clothes
- Specialists
- Figure 45: Italy: Specialist retailers used for buying clothes in the past 12 months, June 2020
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- Figure 46: Italy: Specialist retailers used for buying clothes in the past 12 months, by gender, June 2020
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- Figure 47: Italy: Specialist retailers used for buying clothes in the past 12 months, by age, June 2020
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- Figure 48: Italy: Specialist retailers used for buying clothes in the past 12 months, by channels used for buying clothes, June 2020
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- Figure 49: Italy: Specialist retailers used for buying clothes in the past 12 months, by specialist retailers used for buying clothes, June 2020
- Non-specialists
- Figure 50: Italy: Non-specialist retailers used for buying clothes in the past 12 months, June 2020
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- Figure 51: Italy: Non-specialist retailers used for buying clothes in the past 12 months, by gender, June 2020
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- Figure 52: Italy: Non-specialist retailers used for buying clothes in the past 12 months, by age, June 2020
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- Figure 53: Italy: Non-specialist retailers used for buying clothes in the past 12 months, by channels used for buying clothes, June 2020
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- Figure 54: Italy: Customer profile by clothing specialist and non-specialist shopped at, by age and income, June 2020
- Specialists
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Clothes shopping behaviours relating to COVID-19
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- Figure 55: Italy: clothing shopping behaviours relating to COVID-19, June 2020
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- Figure 56: Italy: clothing shopping behaviours relating to COVID-19, by age, June 2020
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- Figure 57: Italy: clothing shopping behaviours relating to COVID-19, by age, June 2020
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- Figure 58: Italy: clothing shopping behaviours relating to COVID-19, by specialist clothing retailers shopped at, June 2020
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Appendix – Data sources, Abbreviations and supporting information
- Abbreviations
- Data sources
- Abbreviations
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C&A
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- What we think
- New store concept to tempt customers through the door
- New concession format to replace no longer sustainable standalone stores
- A leader in fashion sustainability
- Company background
- Company performance
- Figure 59: C&A: Estimated group sales performance, 2015/16-2019/20
- Figure 60: C&A: Estimated outlet data, 2015/16-2019/20
- Retail offering
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H&M Hennes & Mauritz
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- What we think
- New hyper-local store concept
- Custom-made perfect fit jeans
- Online expansion giving more customers more options to access its brands
- Livestreaming shopping events
- Fashion rental and re-sale point towards an increased focus on sustainability
- Company background
- Company performance
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- Figure 61: H&M Hennes & Mauritz: Group financial performance, 2014/15-2018/19
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- Figure 62: H&M Hennes & Mauritz: Outlet data, 2014/15-2018/19
- Retail offering
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Grupo Inditex
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- What we think
- A global business
- Upsizing stores
- Online a big opportunity for growth
- Technology at the heart of the business
- Flexible and responsive approach to production helped it cope with COVID
- Sustainability is key to future
- Where now?
- Company background
- Company performance
- Figure 63: Grupo Inditex: Group financial performance, 2015/16-2019/20
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- Figure 64: Grupo Inditex: Sales by brand, 2019/20
- Figure 65: Grupo Inditex: Outlet data, 2015/16-2019/20
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- Figure 66: Grupo Inditex: Outlet numbers by brand, 2019/20
- Retail offering
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Zalando
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- What we think
- Taking the guesswork out of size and fit
- Customers can now tailor their experience by following their favourite brands
- Boosting sustainability credentials with eco-friendly offering and second-hand platform
- Expanding luxury ranges to meet demand among younger consumers
- Company background
- Company performance
- Figure 67: Zalando: Group financial performance, 2015-19
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- Figure 68: Zalando: key metrics, 2017-H1 2020
- Retail offering
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About the report
This market report provides in-depth analysis and insight supported by a range of data. At the same time, introductory and top-level content is provided to give you an overview of the issues covered.
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