Spanish fast fashion grew almost 300% during 2021

The fashion sector - for many years considered the main engine behind e-commerce in Spain - is recovering from the pandemic effect thanks to the push of fast fashion, which recorded a growth of almost 300% in the past 2021. 

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This is one of the main conclusions of a study done by the online bank N26, which has analyzed customer spending data at fashion retailers, to determine whether and how consumption in this sector changed during and after the health crisis.

N26 study aims at the fact that e-commerce has recovered faster than traditional brick-and-mortar commerce. According to the data recorded by the bank, in the entire period analyzed by N26 - between January 2021 and June 2022, both inclusive - the vast majority of payment transactions were made online.

All the categories analyzed (fast fashion, luxury, sports, and second-hand) have shown some recovery in 2022 compared to 2021. 

Fast fashion rules in Spain 

But the growth has not been similar in all cases: fast fashion retailers saw a 291.86% increase in the number of purchases in June 2022 (the month in which the highest number of purchases recorded by the mobile bank occurred) compared to the same month the previous year. 

However, although Spaniards go shopping on more occasions, they spend a smaller amount. Thus, while the average expenditure in these stores was 64.5€ in 2021, in June this year it was 56€. 

All in all, fast fashion is the queen of the categories: almost 80% (79.59%) of the total number of payment transactions in fashion analyzed by N26 are in this type of company.

Zara, Primark, and Vinted leading the growth 

N26 study shows that Zara, Primark, and Vinted are, in that order, the stores most chosen by Spaniards for their purchases. 

The average amount per purchase in Zara stores is 47€, while Primark (28€) and Vinted (23.5€) have a more moderate average expenditure per purchase. 

The ranking by payments is completed, in order, by Zalando in the fourth position followed by Shein, Bershka, Stradivarius, Uniqlo, and Nike. The latter is, from this first list, in which Spaniards invest more money with an average of 86.8€ per purchase.