Annual online sales growth for the fashion industry in Australia has slowed to 6% for March 2018 according to NAB's online retail sale index for the month.
The fashion industry now represents 14.8% of all total spending for online retail in Australia after the industry also recorded a 10.9% growth for February 2018.
The index claims that this data could be misleading as the 'buy now, pay later' payment methods which are most popular in fashion retail can mask category spending month-by-month.
Quantium group executive for analytics and insights Wade Tubman said the numbers could suggest further disruption for brick and mortar retailers as online spending continues to grow.
“The arrival of new international players has the potential to create a second wave of disruption for established brick and mortar retailers in key categories.”
Data related to the share of spending by age group highlighted the need for fashion retailers to appeal to younger audiences with 20.9% of the online spending for the 18-24 age group currently going into fashion sales.
NAB group chief economist Alan Oster said the online retail space would continue to grow in Australia across all product ranges.
“In total, we estimate the Australian online retail market was worth $25.3 billion in the 12 months to March 2018. Online sales in all states and territories grew in the month of March."