Clothes, accessories nab top spot in online sales

Forrester Research Inc.’s 10th annual Shop.org study, The State of Retailing Online 2007, was released in May and showed that clothing has moved into the top spot for online sales for 2006, with consumers spending $18.3 billion online last year for apparel, accessories and footwear.

The findings mark the first time clothing has edged out computer hardware and software in online sales.

In 2007, online clothing sales are expected to hit $22.1 billion, representing 10 percent of all clothing sales for the year, and some Springfield clothiers are poised to capture some of that business.

Meghan Chambers, owner and manager of Staxx, 331 South Ave., plans to launch a new Web site, www.shopstaxx.com, this month. Her site formerly was at www.staxxapparel.com.

“It’s extremely important that we move to this new trend of online shopping, because it’s convenient for the customers, and they have it where it’s readily available to them,” Chambers said.

Staxx customers come from as close as surrounding cities and as far as New York, and all have responded well thus far to Chambers’ venture into online retail, she said.

While she didn’t disclose online sales figures, Chambers said she’s expecting that the site will increase her sales at least 10 percent.

One of the store’s full-time employees is now solely responsible for the Web site.

Thuy Dam’s So You Boutique, 1314 E. Battlefield Road, offers online shopping – with a twist.

Her Web site, www.soyouboutique.com allows customers to view items online and send an inquiry to the store to see if what they want is available.

“I only carry one of each of item, so I don’t have a shopping cart on my (site),” Dam said. “They have to call in or (e-mail) to see if it’s available.”

Dam said her site maintenance runs $80 a month, plus a domain subscription fee of $500 a year. Dam and her employees maintain the site in addition to their regular store duties, so she said it’s difficult to judge how much time is actually spent working on the Web site.

The investment, however, seems to be paying off. Though the site’s main objective is to advertise the store and bring people through its doors, Dam said nearly 5 percent of her sales come from online shoppers, with customer contacts from all over the world, including Paris, California and Indianapolis.

“The world is going global, and it’s a great way to get your name out there,” Dam said.

Online shopping isn’t for everyone, though.

Cathey Brown, owner and manager of Ms. Brown’s Inc., said she tried online shopping when she first opened her store at 1815 E. Grand St. eight years ago, but found it hard to keep up with in terms of inventory.

“I get a lot of one-of-a-kind pieces,” she said. “It’d be difficult to offer those and replace them if more than one person were to order them.”

Brown, who runs her store by herself, said she keeps busy enough with day-to-day tasks that moving to the Web again would be difficult. [[In-content Ad]]