Popular online fashion marketplaces

 

Nothing beats the convenience of shopping from your armchair. Skipping the crowds is a big advantage in most cases, especially if you already know the product you’re buying. But what if you buy something for the first time and would actually need to try it before making up your mind?

 

The beauty industry certainly knows about this issue, and so does fashion.

 

 

Fashion in e-Commerce

Despite the challenges, online trade in fashion is booming. The market is valued at $905.62 billion this year, up by 10.3% from $821.19 in 2023. If the trend continues, the market is projected to reach $1,356.74 billion by 2028.

 

Analysts believe that this growth is mostly attributable to flexible payment options, increasing internet penetration and smartphone usage all over the world, as well as the rise of AI-powered features. These features can successfully bridge the gap between in-person and online shopping, including AI assistants who suggest clothes based on the customer’s prompts, as well as the option to virtually try on these clothes via an uploaded picture.

 

 

AI-generated image of a shopper trying on clothes virtually

 

 

Let’s take a look at some of the most popular online fashion marketplaces in the world today!

 

 

Zalando

Founded in 2008 in Berlin, Germany, Zalando was initially an online retailer for shoes. Offering free shipping and a 100 days return option, the marketplace became popular among customers. Zalando quickly expanded its product range to include clothing, accessories, and beauty products, positioning itself as a comprehensive fashion platform.

 

In a couple of years, the marketplace expanded to other countries, the first being Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Today, Zalando is available in 25 European countries, operating 12 fulfilment centres, employing 15,000 people across the continent and even running physical outlet stores in Germany.

 

 

Screenshot of the homepage of zalando.be

 

 

Zalando bags an annual revenue of 10 billion euros, and has a GMV of ca. 14.6 billion euros. The marketplace is ranked as the most popular fashion-oriented platform in Germany, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands and has over 121 million monthly visitors across Europe. Overall, Zalando is the fourth most popular online marketplace on the continent.

 

More than 2,500 brands sell over 600,000 products on the platform, including household names like Nike, Adidas, Armani, Gucci, Levi’s and Marc Jacobs.

 

 

About You

Launched in 2014, About You is another successful fashion marketplace originating from Germany. The company is based in Hamburg and owned by the Otto Group. About You is an all-around fashion marketplace, selling all kinds of garments in women’s, men’s and children fashion, as well as accessories and sports gear.

 

 

Screenshot of the homepage of aboutyou.de

 

 

About You’s main target audience is young people, which is why it places great importance on personalisation, celebrity cooperations with young stars like Millie Bobby Brown and a fun shopping experience. The company also offers exclusive product drops, live shopping, premium sneakers and a section dedicated to second hand clothing.

 

Find out how to market to Generation Z!

 

About You is available in 25 European markets, including Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Poland, Czechia, France, Denmark and Italy. The company reports an annual revenue of 1.7 billion euros and over 350,000 monthly visitors across its markets.

 

The platform works with over 3,800 brands, including its own labels like About You and Edited, and well-known fashion companies like Kate Spade, Bershka, Tamaris and Coach.

 

 

ASOS

Another platform aimed at young shoppers, UK-based ASOS was founded in 2000. Its name is actually an acronym, short for “As seen on screen.” The marketplace caters to fashion-loving young consumers in categories like everyday clothes, dresses for special occasions, shoes, cosmetics, accessories and sportswear.

 

ASOS prides itself on catering to all tastes, styles and body types while taking measures to protect the planet by reducing its carbon footprint and not tolerating animal testing.

 

 

Screenshot of asos.com’s homepage

 

 

ASOS ships products worldwide and has 55.9 million monthly visitors, most of them from the UK, US, France, Germany and Australia. The company reports an annual revenue of $4.49 billion, down from $4.57 billion recorded in the previous year. The platform is ranked the seventh most popular online marketplace in Europe, and the second in the UK.

 

ASOS owns popular brands like Topman, Topshop, Miss Selfridge, HIIT, ASOS Design, ASOS Luxe and Dark Future. In addition, the platform offers nearly 50,000 garments and other products from well-known brands including Adidas, Calvin Klein, Dr Martens, Mango and Ray-Ban. Besides the online marketplace, ASOS products can be bought in physical stores as well, like popular US department store Nordstrom.

 

 

Macys.com

Contrary to the previous three marketplaces, Macy’s has over a hundred years of history to look back on. The online platform stems from the iconic US department store of the same name, which was first opened in 1858.

 

Macys.com itself was launched in 1996. Based in the US, the online marketplace ships products to over 200 countries and boasts 63.7 million monthly visitors mainly from its home country, as well as Canada and Mexico.

 

As the online version of the physical department store, macys.com sells much more than fashion. Shoppers can browse categories like furniture, electronics, kitchenware, bedding, home decor, baby care and jewellery.

 

 

Screenshot of the homepage of macys.com

 

 

Macy’s reports an annual revenue of $23.86 billion, slightly down from $23.86 billion reached in the previous year. The online marketplace is responsible for around $6.4 billion of that.

 

As macys.com caters to an all-around audience, the company works with a multitude of brands appealing for all generations. For example, customers can find products by Birkenstock, Burberry, Carter’s, Guess, Hugo Boss, Oakley and Karl Lagerfeld on macys.com as well as the platform’s own brands, like Macy’s.

 

 

Related topics

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What you didn’t know about online marketplaces

 

 

Protecting your IP rights on online fashion marketplaces

Online trade is a huge opportunity for many, fashion brands included. However, due to the multitude of actors in play, especially third party sellers, it’s more than possible that fraudsters and counterfeiters enter the circulation, offering products that infringe on your IP rights.

 

Since detecting all these offers is an immense task, brands like to set up a comprehensive online brand protection programme. With that in place, you can rest assured that fraudulent offers are detected and eliminated before they can significantly damage your brand.

 

For example, globaleyez’s marketplace monitoring service is designed to catch IP infringing product listings on over 150 marketplaces worldwide, fashion platforms included. Thanks to versatile filters, we can quickly discard authorised listings to focus our attention on infringing ones.

 

Fraudsters often advertise their products with stolen brand images, or copied versions where they recreate their own image based on your protected one. That’s no problem for our image monitoring service that detects both original and copied images anywhere online. This service is essential for connecting the dots between seemingly independent offers and uncovering counterfeiter networks.

 

If you need more information about a seller or the origins of a specific product, we offer to do a test purchase for you. This anonymous service allows us to collect as much data as possible and record it as court-admissible evidence.

 

Last but not least, we’ll enforce your rights and ensure the removal of the infringing content from the internet.

 

 

Conclusion

The online trade of fashion is a dynamically growing sector. To ensure your brand’s success in this area, you have to nip damaging IP infringements in the bud.

 

Contact us and let’s devise a perfectly tailored online brand protection programme for you!