Womenswear - UK - May 2014
Introduction
 
The womenswear market has grown by 4.6% in 2013 to reach £24.9 billion, as women continue to prioritise buying new clothes over other areas of spend. While women’s clothing sales have risen 19% over the last five years, growth in 2013 has been impacted by high levels of discounting.

Women have become savvier shoppers following the economic downturn and this has impacted their clothes shopping behaviour, with over half preferring to wait for sales/special offers than pay full price for clothes.

Young women continue to drive fashion sales, placing such high importance on the latest trends that despite being under increasing financial pressure, they continue to spend their extra money on updating their wardrobes. Future growth opportunities for the sector, however, will come from the rising 25-34-year-old demographic, who are as keen clothes shoppers as their younger counterparts, and the ageing female population who are becoming more style aware and confident about what they wear.

Definitions
This report looks at where women buy clothing, the most important factors when shopping for clothes in-store from a particular retailer and when shopping online, their shopping journey and their attitudes towards buying womenswear.

The market size for womenswear includes women’s outerwear, but excludes underwear, nightwear, footwear and fashion accessories.

Value figures throughout this report are at retail selling prices (rsp) unless otherwise stated. Market sizes at constant prices are calculated using Mintel’s clothing & footwear deflator. Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.

Abbreviations
CPI	Consumer Price Index	
GDP	Gross Domestic Product	
H&M	Hennes & Mauritz	
M&S	Marks & Spencer	
ONS	Office for National Statistics	
PDI	Personal Disposable Income	
POS	Point of Sale	
QR 	Quick Response	
RFID	Radio Frequency Identification