Size does matter – finding success with curve fashion

Over the past few years, curve clothing has become an increasingly dynamic sector of fashion retail, writes eBay's Lorna Dunne. In fact, according to the report “What Britain Wears: Niche Clothing 2017”, UK expenditure in the plus-size market has grown by almost £800m since 2012, and is predicted to account for 20% of womenswear spend this year. It’s incredibly exciting to see this sector give rise to new fashion brands – such as Rebel Wilson x Angels ­­– as well as established brands, from Mango to Boohoo, diversifying their offer.

The average woman in the UK wears a dress size 16, which makes it reassuring to see the fashion industry trying to help all women look and feel confident and beautiful – after all everyone deserves to wear clothing to suit their size and style.

However, until recently the plus-size market has been under-represented. When we looked into the state of the market, our insights revealed that although 25% of women in the UK are potential curve customers, plus-size clothing represented only 12% of women’s clothing sold. We launched our dedicated eBay.co.uk Curve hub in 2016 to try and overcome this and help plus-size customers find the right look.

A year after launching, we now see an average of 50K searches for “plus-size fashion” on eBay UK every month.

With retailers making an effort to cater to the high level of consumer demand and the curve market becoming increasingly crowded, here are my top tips to help any fashion retailer ensure their move into the world of curve fashion is a successful and fruitful one.

The dedicated eBay Curve hub launched last year

Use real-life, real-size models

It may seem simple, but it’s amazing how many fashion retailers overlook this basic fact: people want the clothes they’re buying to look the same on themselves as they do on the models.

Whether you’re using models on your website, catalogue or marketing materials, you need to make sure you’re appealing to the right market. If you are trying to sell curve clothing by using unrealistically thin models, you will struggle to convince consumers that the same items will suit them too. Instead, always have your shoppers at the forefront of your mind when choosing models to market your clothing line. Curve fashion retailer Simply Be is a great example of a brand doing this successfully, picking models who appeal to their customers and showing them styles that flatter their body shape.

And why not try taking this one step further, by offering greater transparency about your models’ sizes, as other fashion retailers have started to do. This will help make shoppers feel relaxed about committing to the purchase.

At eBay, one of the ways we help our sellers appeal to shoppers is through our Shop the Look technology, putting real plus-size women on the site – providing Curve customers with wardrobe inspiration that’s fashionable and relatable.

Simply Be: uses models who appeal to its customers

Use online like a pro

According to a study published earlier this year, UK consumers spend more online than any other country, making it a great place to test the waters of e-commerce.

And for plus-size fashion, online retail plays an even bigger role; in fact, the What Britain Wears report found that online is the most important channel for female plus-size shoppers, with 45% buying their clothing online. For some curve customers, shopping in store can be a difficult experience for a variety of reasons – from lack of inventory to a poor choice of styles.

Having a strong online presence not only allows you to extend your reach, opening up your store to a much bigger audience, but ultimately helps you reach the right customers, wherever in the country – or even around the world – they are based.

Harness the shopper data that’s at your fingertips to make your online retail strategy even more successful. By collecting behavioural insights about your customers, you can get to know your audience and build meaningful relationships with them, based on their individual interests and shopping patterns. This could mean identifying trends they are into and sending customers offers for clothing that suits their style and preferences.

Building a bank of shopper data also means you are in a great position to cross-sell and up-sell. If a customer has bought a new skirt, why not show them a top or pair of shoes to complete the look? Or, if you know that a customer has bought a dress for a Christmas party, why not see if they’d be interested in accessories to complement their outfit?

Boohoo: has diversified into Plus Size and Curve as these shoppers increasing turn to online retailers

Plan well ahead for the peaks

All retailers need to think about the different peaks and plan for the waves of consumer interest, and one of our biggest learnings since launching our Curve Fashion hub at eBay has been how major demand peaks are particularly significant for the plus-size fashion market.

It’s key that sellers tap into the mind-set of their customers and think about the important moments in the year for plus-size fashion – such as festival season, Christmas, Halloween and summer holidays – as customers need to search harder at these times for fashionable, well-fitting clothes.

For instance, during the winter party season, dresses are one of the top searches in the fashion category on eBay every year. This is an important time for everyone to look good and feel great, so it’s crucial to ensure your collections and stock are representative of all dress sizes. With peak season planning reaching its crux, make sure you aren’t limiting your offer; think about all audiences, and include a wide range of choice for glamourous plus-size party outfits.

With the plus-size fashion market only just taking off, this is prime time for new retailers and old to move in on this exciting and dynamic segment. With a bit of real-life inspiration, savvy online skills and careful planning, you can successfully capitalise on the opportunity curve retail presents.

Lorna Dunne, Head of Fashion Sales at eBay UK