The UK market for online fashion is expected to be worth £4.8bn by the end of 2011, according to market analyst Mintel. However, going by the latest independent analysis of online fashion-related search data, undertaken by Greenlight, menswear has quite some ground to make up. Greenlight's latest report 'Fashion - Issue 10', reveals that of the 1.1 million fashion-related searches conducted on Google UK in July, almost 50 per cent of terms related to womenswear compared to just 16 per cent for menswear.
The report which profiles search behaviour in the fashion retail sector found the number of searches for womenswear was over three times greater than for menswear, totalling 551,780 and 178,919 respectively, in July.
Dresses for the ladies and suits for the men
Dress-related search terms, for example 'Dresses', 'Maxi dress' and 'Womens dresses', cumulatively made up 69 per cent of womenswear queries.
Combined, the majority of meanswear-related searches (17 per cent) pertained to suits and included search terms such as 'Mens suits' (22,200), 'Suits for men' (5,400), and 'Mens wedding suits' (4,400).
ASOS most visible site for both women and menswear
Greenlight's report analysed which brands, retailers and review sites were the most visible in both natural search and paid media results and thus had the greatest share of consideration when UK consumers searched for clothing on Google UK.
In natural search, ASOS was the most visible site for womenswear accounting for 90 per cent share of visibility. It was followed by House Of Fraser with 68 per cent then Boohoo with 53 per cent.
ASOS was likewise the most visible site for menswear-related searches in natural search, accounting for 68 per cent share of visibility. Debenhams followed with 47 per cent and House Of Fraser with 45 per cent.
In paid media, Very was the most visible advertiser for womenswear, achieving a 78 per cent share of voice whilst Jaeger, with 48 per cent was the most visible advertiser for menswear.
FrenchConnection most 'socially connected' brand in the fashion sphere
Greenlight's report also assessed which brands interacted well on social media networks Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. It also identified three of the top bloggers in the fashion sector in July, ranked according to authority and number of mentions.
French Connection achieved the highest Klout score (81) and was the brand which attained the highest visibility across the social media platforms analysed, ahead of Amazon (80) and ASOS (73).
Tavi Gevinson of thestylerookie.com, Cycle Chic and Scott Shuman of thesartorialist.com were the top 3 bloggers.
As winter approaches, Greenlight expects there will be a significant increase in the number of consumer online searches for seasonal fashion items, such as 'coats' and 'hoodies'.
