USA Today
LONDON — As spending in malls and stores remains sluggish, the strength of online fashion sales is enticing big-name international retailers to join the move into cyberspace.
Spanish clothing store Zara began selling online in Britain this week, hot on the heels of U.S. retailer Gap's first Internet shop outside the United States and just ahead of a planned launch by Sweden's H&M.
"It's becoming the new normal," says Jeremy Baker, consumer analyst at ESCP Europe Business School in London. "Companies need to have a presence online to compete."
Zara, which also went live in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, already has around 4.5 million fans on social networking site Facebook and its iPhone application has been dowloaded 3.5 million times.
Converting just a fraction of those to its new shopping site would give the company, owned by Inditex Group, significant revenues.
"There is clearly demand for Zara product online," said Simon Chinn, retail consultant at Verdict Research. "It will comfortably complement its extensive store estate, adding an extra level of service for its customers."
Inditex recently overtook Gap (GPS) as the world's biggest clothing retailer by sales and Chief Executive Pablo Isla indicated that the group would launch online sites for its other brands, which include Massimo Dutti and Bershka.
Gap, meanwhile, launched sites for both its main brand and more expensive offshoot, Banana Republic, last week. Like Zara, it plans a wider rollout in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
Toby Lenk, president of Gap Direct has described selling online as an "efficient way to reach new international customers and test the waters for our brands."
That's particularly the case for Banana Republic — a brand that's been given big props by fashion editors across a broad range of publications in Britain but has yet to open a store outside the capital.
While going online makes cost-efficient sense for larger chains that already have well-stocked warehouses, analysts say it is fast becoming a necessity for any retail company to stay in business.
Internet sales are expected to grow to $145 billion in western Europe by 2014, up from $86 billion last year, according to consulting firm Forrester.
Asos, the market leader, which sells quickly updated fashions that copy those worn by celebrities, reported a 54% surge in sales in the first quarter of this year, compared with a year earlier.
Analysts say it's no coincidence that Internet leisure shopping is on the rise at a time that many people are feeling cash-strapped and over-worked — it both saves valuable time and often lets consumers feel they're not really spending money.
"You click, you don't put money on the table," says Baker.
Spanish clothing store Zara began selling online in Britain this week, hot on the heels of U.S. retailer Gap's first Internet shop outside the United States and just ahead of a planned launch by Sweden's H&M.
"It's becoming the new normal," says Jeremy Baker, consumer analyst at ESCP Europe Business School in London. "Companies need to have a presence online to compete."
Zara, which also went live in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, already has around 4.5 million fans on social networking site Facebook and its iPhone application has been dowloaded 3.5 million times.
Converting just a fraction of those to its new shopping site would give the company, owned by Inditex Group, significant revenues.
"There is clearly demand for Zara product online," said Simon Chinn, retail consultant at Verdict Research. "It will comfortably complement its extensive store estate, adding an extra level of service for its customers."
Inditex recently overtook Gap (GPS) as the world's biggest clothing retailer by sales and Chief Executive Pablo Isla indicated that the group would launch online sites for its other brands, which include Massimo Dutti and Bershka.
Gap, meanwhile, launched sites for both its main brand and more expensive offshoot, Banana Republic, last week. Like Zara, it plans a wider rollout in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
Toby Lenk, president of Gap Direct has described selling online as an "efficient way to reach new international customers and test the waters for our brands."
That's particularly the case for Banana Republic — a brand that's been given big props by fashion editors across a broad range of publications in Britain but has yet to open a store outside the capital.
While going online makes cost-efficient sense for larger chains that already have well-stocked warehouses, analysts say it is fast becoming a necessity for any retail company to stay in business.
Internet sales are expected to grow to $145 billion in western Europe by 2014, up from $86 billion last year, according to consulting firm Forrester.
Asos, the market leader, which sells quickly updated fashions that copy those worn by celebrities, reported a 54% surge in sales in the first quarter of this year, compared with a year earlier.
Analysts say it's no coincidence that Internet leisure shopping is on the rise at a time that many people are feeling cash-strapped and over-worked — it both saves valuable time and often lets consumers feel they're not really spending money.
"You click, you don't put money on the table," says Baker.
