But one country in particular is experiencing rapid retail growth and expansion within the apparel industry: Australia.
Currently the 10th largest ecommerce market in the world based on its $25.2 billion (USD) market share projected for 2021, Australia's online retailers are seeing major growth: Within the fashion industry alone, it's predicted Australian online fashion retailers will see a 9.7% uptick in revenue this year.
Why is that?
David Whitcroft, CFO at Full Stack Finance, says that Australian brands have an advantage in that they have to think internationally from inception (as they're launching within a small market.) If they want to effectively scale up, they'll have to connect with international shoppers outside of the country.
But that's not all. Whitcroft also explained that Australia has higher input costs (like higher wages), which forces brands to be lean and efficient.
Add to this the country's geographic location and counter-seasonality (which puts it ahead of seasons in northern hemisphere countries) and the fact that demographically and traveler-wise it's a melting pot of Asia, Europe, and the US—and you have a handful of competitive advantages.
Bonus: There's no language barrier for English-speaking shoppers.
"Don't forget the legacy global surf brands that have come out of Australia, as well as high fashion brands like Zimmerman and Colette Dinnigan," Whitcroft said. "Australia has a huge cohort of professionals who understand how to launch and scale successful apparel brands."
Australia-based fashion brand Verge Girl is one example of these retailers finding success.
Effective team-scaling and remaining direct-to-consumer have been two key components to the 2,400% online sales growth they saw between 2013 and 2016, as well as an additional 100% increase every year since 2017.
"This growth happened after we started investing more time and money into the online store and hired a team to help with execution and fulfillment," said Daniella Dionyssiou, Verge Girl's co-founder. "We moved into a larger warehouse space and gradually hired photographers, stylists, warehouse managers, an operations manager and a marketing team."
Influencer marketing has also been a major focus for the brand.
Until late 2019 influencer partnerships accounted for almost 100% of Verge Girl's marketing efforts—and they still maintain a team that focuses solely on this channel. In the past few months, however, they've also started to focus on boosting customer acquisition via Facebook and Instagram ads.
Verge Girl has also kept a wide audience: Product was available to international online shoppers from the very beginning.
That said, international sales have only recently become a major portion of the brand's revenue, now accounting for about 60% of the brand's total annual revenue.
With growth on a steady include, the brand has no plans to introduce retail partnerships (despite multiple offers), and instead plans to stick with the direct-to-consumer approach.
The reason: It allows them to focus on the consumer, to stay agile, and to maintain exclusive rights to their brand and product.
