British fashion retailers see online success

British fashion retailers are seeing their online businesses soar with revenues expected to reach 28 billion pounds by 2020. The new findings were presented by analysts OC&C and Google in a report called 'Britain's Retail E-mpire.' The findings

show international sales could outgrow domestic revenue to make up 40 percent of total online sales in the next seven years. Last year, online sales from outside the UK totalled 4 billion pounds and accounted for 14 percent of total online sales.

West

Europe is a key market

Western Europe is particularly strong, with sales predicted to rise from 1.5 to 9.8 billion pounds in the next seven years, due to lower barriers to entry, thanks to the European Union, and the ease of delivery across the continent.

Other growth markets include central and Eastern Europe, and Asia, although North America will remain the biggest single regional market for British products online.

Anita Balchandani, partner at OC&C, said the growth of international sales suggested a fundamental shift in shopping patterns with consumers using the internet as a “global shop window", and she added that this is changing the rules of international expansion.

“Retailers are expanding internationally much more quickly now, achieving it in months rather than years, and they are also able to do it much more cheaply now," she said.

Of the brands scoring the most consumer searches, over half are fashion brands or retailers with Asos taking the top spot and Burberry, Boohoo, Net-a-Porter and Jimmy Choo also in the top 10.

Smaller UK brands and businesses, such as Isabella Oliver and Farfetch, are also seizing the international opportunities offered by e-commerce, accounting for nearly half of online searches from abroad.

Image: Burberry online