APAC to dominate global value apparel market by 2024

A growing middle class makes China and India an attractive market for low-end fashion brands.

Asia Pacific is set to emerge as the epicenter of the value apparel market by 2024 with its market share expected to reach nearly 50% during the same period, data from GlobalData revealed.

In comparison, Europe, Americas and Middle East and Africa will take up 26%, 22% and 3% share, respectively.

China was the largest value apparel market in terms of sales in 2019, followed by United States and United Kingdom. Whilst China will retain its dominance through to 2024, India is expected to surpass United Kingdom, becoming the third largest and the fastest-growing value apparel market by 2024.

India’s value sales is estimated to account for nearly 23% of the total apparel sales in 2024. Globaldata noted that economies like China and India are home to the world’s largest-growing middle classes and thus play a key role in driving global value apparel demand. This makes them an attractive market for established value fashion brands.

A rising unemployment and economic uncertainty have had a detrimental impact on the way consumers shop for apparel. “Impulsive spending on apparel products is off the cards now, and ‘value for money’ has become the key criterion to attract the shoppers,” the report stated.

Low-end apparel sales are projected to grow at the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.5% during 2019-2024 compared with CAGR of 1.5%, 1.9% and 1.9% of premium, luxury and mass market sales, respectively.

GlobalData’s retail analyst Ankita Roy has advised that value retailers should aim to maintain consumer interest and encourage them to spend by creative digital marketing on social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest that hold significant appeal.

“The apparel sector is the hardest hit domain by COVID-19 within retail with shoppers trading down on clothing and footwear purchases. However, 2020 can be said to have provided favorable conditions to value retailers as more shoppers gravitate towards value for money offerings,” Roy said.