Maybe Apparel Sales Have Plummeted Because We Prefer Shopping In Physical Stores?
I keep saying that, in contrast to the prevailing narrative, COVID-19 is actually reinforcing the critical importance of physical stores. Here’s another way of looking at the data: perhaps apparel sales have nosedived during COVID-19 for the simple reason that consumers still prefer to shop for such merchandise in-store and they have not been able to do that with all of the forced closures, capacity restrictions and health concerns. That’s been my argument all along, even before COVID: that many of us prefer to “see, touch, feel (and try on)” before buying such items, and that some of us even enjoy doing it as a form of leisure. Considered in tandem with the unsustainable cost structure of selling online, this explains why digitally-native brands have continued to open physical stores (even now), and why Amazon’s apparel sales skew overwhelmingly towards basics–think tube socks and “tighty-whitey” underwear–rather than true fashion. Perhaps it changes with the rise of Gen Z — or maybe, just maybe, we’re butting up against the limits of digital retailing.