In the first quarter of 2010, for the 100 national key large-scale retailers, the retail sales of clothing increased by 28.7% from the same period in 2009. In March, for the 100 national key large-scale retailers, the retail sales increased by 24.2%, and sales volume increased by 21.6%. Clothing retail in China gradually recovered its growth, and sales revenue of the whole industry is forecast to increase by 11.9% to $12.36 billion in 2010. Along with improvement of domestic consumers’ consumption capacity, the consumption for clothing gradually upgraded, and demand for medium and high-end clothing is expected to grow strongly.

In recent years, disposable income and consumption capacity of rural residents have been rising steadily. In 2009, growth rate of rural consumption surpassed urban consumption for the first time since 1986. In addition, rural resident’s per capital expenditure on clothing increased from less than $1 (current price) in 1983 to over $20 in 2008, up over 20 times. The per capita purchase amount of clothing during the same period also increased from 0.7 pieces to 2.7 pieces, up by 2.9 times. Expansion of rural market works as an important contributor for revenue growth of clothing retailers in China.

With the foreign clothing enterprises accelerating their distribution in domestic market, the domestic clothing enterprises face increasing market competition. The competition of clothing retail is forecast to be more in the aspects of store environment and product quality in the future.

For clothing retailers in China, online shopping becomes increasingly popular. Currently, there have been over 1,000 clothing e-commerce platforms operating in China. Clothing has been the first largest category of online shopping since 2007. In 2009, over 80 million consumers made purchases through Internet, and over 70% of Netizens have purchased clothes online. E-commerce platform is forecast to play an increasingly important role for clothing retailers in the future.