Sustainability and Online Shopping Behaviour

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Sustainability and Online Shopping Behaviour
Nathalie Bekx, Fashion Congress 2008, 26/11/08,
Grimbergen
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1. Sustainability2. Online Shopping 3. Apparel
E-tailing4. E-luxury More Links
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1. Sustainability
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Would you pay more for sustainable
clothes?Fair labour conditions, respect for
the environment.
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No, you wouldnt
E.g. daily 100 organic eaters represent 2 to 3
of the population. (Trendbarometer 2006,
Bexpertise-WDM 2006)
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• Unless
• product quality meets the price
• you dont care about the price
• youre in for an act of charity
• youre buying a product for which quality
  matters more to you than price. Like
  fashion?(Survey Fair Free Trade Coffee for
  Efico, Bexpertise 2005 Trend- Retailbarometers
  Bexpertise)

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When buying clothes, price (main argument for
44) and quality (priority for 41) are equally
important.(Fedis Handelsbarometer 2007,
Bexpertise 2007)
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When buying coffee, 2/3 Belgians find it
reasonable that labelled coffee (sustainable
produce) costs more.(Survey Fair Free Trade
Coffee for Efico Foundation, Bexpertise 2005)
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No wonder thatnot 30-somethings but 50 are
biggest fair trade buyers (Trendbarometer
Belgium Netherlands 2006, Bexpertise-WDM 2006)
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• 1st of all because they can afford to pay for
  fair trade e.g.
• 2nd because theyre more conscious. E.g. 44 of
  51-65-year olds always read whats on the
  packaging. 22 read recycling rules. They own
  more energy-saving products than younger
  generations. They buy more quality labelled
  products etc.

50 is trendsetter sustainability
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The of Belgians that never buy fair trade is
smallest among pensioners (53) and housewives
(55).
(Trendbarometer Belgium Netherlands 2006,
Bexpertise-WDM 2006)
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Top7 Answers 1. When it lasts longer (82) 2.
When it doesnt make the environment suffer
(57) 3. Fair price for the producer (40) 4. No
pesticides (38) 5. No child labour (37) 6. No
animal testing (36) 7. Local (Belgian) producer
(16) (Fedis Handelsbarometer 2007, Bexpertise
2007)
When is a product sustainable?
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When is a product sustainable? Different
answers 3 generations
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• Recycle (94,7)
• Cycle (65,2)
• Print less (62,8)
• Buy less packaged products (61,5)
• Drive slower (57,7).
• (Trendbarometer 2006)

What would you do to save the environment?
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• 41 of Belgians prefer products made in Belgium
• 76 agree that the transport of products should
  be limited as much as possible
• Yet only 15 look for the origin of products on
  the package

But of course actions speak louder than words
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2. Online Shopping
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E-shopping Belgians? Still only 42,70 never
buy anything online.
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34 of 51-65-year old Belgians make an online
purchase at least once a year,compared to 42
of the 20-35-year olds.(Fedis Retail Barometer
2007, Bexpertise 2007)
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• that e-shops at least once a month
• 11 (51-65-year olds)
• 15 (20-35-year olds).
• (Fedis Retail Barometer 2007, Bexpertise 2007)

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Belgian e-shopper makes 5,6 e-purchases a month
(Top4 in Europe)(Fedis Retail Barometer 2007,
Bexpertise 2007)
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Only 17 foresee a future with only online
shops.(50 19) (Fedis Retail Barometer
2007, Bexpertise 2007)
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• Online Shopper Profile
• Most Active Age 30-39 jaar (53), Higher Income
  Brackets (52)
• Least Active 50 (10), Singles (17) Lower
  Income Brackets (3). (Fedis Retail Barometer
  2007, Bexpertise 2007)

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Women Online Purchases Top5 1. Books (46) 2.
Apparel (clothing) (45) 3. Music (42) 4. Travel
(42) 5. Movie Theatre Tickets (33)
(Fedis Retail Barometer 2007, Bexpertise 2007)
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Men Online Purchases Top3 1. Music (60) 2. Soft
Hardware (53) 3. Movie Theatre Tickets (44)
(Fedis Retail Barometer 2007, Bexpertise 2007)
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• Women Life Stages
• Women in their 20s primarily Book their
  Holidays Online
• Women in their 30s mainly buy Apparel /
  Clothes online
• Women in their 40s buy mostly Books via the
  Internet.

(Fedis Retail Barometer 2007, Bexpertise 2007)
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3. Apparel E-tailing
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Apparel e-tailers are clearly in style these
days among shoppers, with sales beating out
hardware and software (Source Forrester
Research, Fashion and Online Shopping, December
2007)
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Huge growth in online clothes shopping (January
2008) (http//www.just-style.com/article.aspx?id9
9741)
Clothing has overtaken computer hardware and
software to become the top-selling consumer
product category (excluding travel) online.
(Forrester Research, May 2007)
Online Shopping for Clothes Tops Computers
(May 2007) (http//www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-13968
7557.html)
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Scale of Chinese Online Clothing Shopping Market
will Reach 17.1 Billion in 2008 (Bron
http//english.iresearch.com.cn/views/E_Commerce/D
etailNews.asp?id8976)
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U.S. Online Apparel Shopping
2007
17 millionhouseholds
2001
9 millionhouseholds
(Source Forrester Research, Fashion and Online
Shopping, December 2007)
(Fedis Retail Barometer 2007, Bexpertise 2007)
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• The Online Fashionista Spending Profile
• Spending habits resemble those of a
  shopaholic

Online Purchaser of Apparel 720 / month
Typical Web Buyer 550 / month
(Source Forrester Research, Fashion and Online
Shopping, December 2007)
(Fedis Retail Barometer 2007, Bexpertise 2007)
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• Social Shoppers Sharing
• gt 1/3 read customer reviews at least monthly
• gt1/10 posts ratings or reviews
• gt 1/2 tell their friends about products that
  interest them
• (Source Forrester Research, Fashion and Online
  Shopping, December 2007)

(Fedis Retail Barometer 2007, Bexpertise 2007)
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Independent designers and fashionistas who want
to capitalize on social commerce and are looking
for an easy way to increase their online sales
now have a new option OURthreads.com. The
community site lets members buy, sell or trade
items from their customized virtual
closets. (Bron www.ecommerce-guide.com/article.
php/3698706)
Facebook for Fashionistas?
OURthreads.com social networking site for
fashion
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eBay.be dozen categories, exclusively for
clothing
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• Strong Catalogue or Product Detail Pages Zoom
  Rotate, User Reviews, Sizing Cards,
• Video to Mimic the In-Store Experience
• Virtual Models to Meet Fit Concerns
• Free Shipping Offers Fair Refund Conditions
• Cross Channel Promotion (On Offline Store
  Integration)
• Strong Brand Loyalty ()
• Secure Payment,
• Fair Free Trade Guarantee?

(Sources Forrester Research, Fashion and Online
Shopping, December 2007 Nielsen Global Online
Shopping 08 Fedis Handelsbarometer 2008)
Succesful Apparel E-tailing?
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The Success Factor of Apparel E-tailing? Conveni
ence! 2/3 Belgians Prefer Time Saving Shops.
Successful E-tailers are Partners in Time
Management.
(Fedis Retail Barometer 2007, Bexpertise 2007)
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Downside Twice as Many Online Apparel
Purchases are Returned (14) than Other Online
Purchases (Source Fedis Handelsbarometer 2008)
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4. E-luxury other links between Sustainability
Online Shopping
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• The Online Fashionista Profile
• Female
• Educated
• Early-adopter
• Liberal spender.
• (Source Forrester Research, Fashion and Online
  Shopping, December 2007)

(Fedis Retail Barometer 2007, Bexpertise 2007)
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Cf. e.g. High Fashion Meets High Tech at
Yoox.com
Ultimately, Superior Quality is What Will Make
Sustainable Products Sell (Survey Fair Free
Trade Coffee for Efico, Bexpertise 2005 Trend-
Retailbarometers Bexpertise)
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Liberal spending on apparel online sustainable
quality products ? Eluxury.com?
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Conclusion Sustainable Apparel E-tailing Can
Make a Lovely Couple!

• How sustainable is e-shopping in the end?
• Less energy wasted on middle men?
• More transport miles when buying worldwide?