More than half of the $2.4 billion that Australians spent buying clothing online last year went to locally based retailers to a new Roy Morgan Research report.Morgan says Australians spent an estimated total of

$2.4 billion on men’s and women’s clothing online in 2015. Of that, $1.36

billion, or 56 percent, went to Australian-based sites (whether online-only

stores or the Web-stores of traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers) and $1.05

billion, or 44 percent, went overseas.

Overall, Morgan says Australians spent $1579 million in 2015 on women’s clothes

online – $961million on women’s wear via local sources and $439 million via

overseas online retailers.

But in menswear it was a different story: Aussie shoppers spent $835 million

online for male gear, $504 million, or 60pc in overseas markets and only 40pc

locally.

Says Morgan CEO Michele Levine: “All this suggests that Australian men’s

clothing retailers need to catch up to the women’s. It may be that the pricing,

quality, range and brands available on local menswear sites are simply not up

to scratch in the new international marketplace, especially among

fashion-conscious, tech-savvy and cashed-up consumers.” Are you listening,

Lowes . ?