Fashion's New Omni-Consumer: How fashion brands and retailers can adapt to the new channel-hopping, post-pandemic fashion consumer

Post-pandemic, the fashion consumer is shopping on-line, off-line, via social channels and across both new and pre-loved platforms. How do fashion brands and retailers respond to this new hybrid consumer?

Following a boom in demand for e-commerce, online retail growth has slowed to broadly pre-pandemic levels, while in-store footfall has also recovered. It might be tempting therefore to view this as a return to ‘normal’, however similarities between pre- and post-pandemic shopping behaviour are only superficial.

Consumer habits have changed for good as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Underlying trends seen before the pandemic were super-charged during and after this seismic period and we are now witnessing the birth of a new breed of fashion shopper. This new shopper is happy to channel hop between on- and off-line platforms, is keyed in as much to social media as they are to socio-economic realities and is embracing new ways of consuming fashion, such as resale and rental.

We surveyed 2,000 shoppers from a nationally representative sample during March 2023 and quizzed them on everything from their current and intended behaviour, the pros and cons of on- and off-line shopping and what they would like to see from brands and retailers to make their shopping experience a more valuable and efficient one.

• 56% of Gen Z consumers said they prefer to buy fashion online
• 65% found shopping in-store advantageous, given the ability to try on items before buying
• 25% said they will be shopping more for fashion online over the next 12 months

The results make for fascinating reading and will help fashion brands prioritise their online investment and marketing strategies over the coming months and year.

In this landmark study TheIndustry.fashion has partnered with BigCommerce to take a deep dive into how consumers are shopping for fashion and what motivates their behaviour in the post-pandemic era.

You can view a taster of this report below. For your full FREE copy, please complete the short form and your report will download automatically. 

In proud partnership with

To find our how you can sponsor an exclusive report like this, please visit our partner page here.