Light has been shed on UK consumers’ continuing taste for fashion expenditure by a new poll reported by FashionNetwork.com. 

The research – which saw some 2,000 UK adults questioned by credit specialist Aqua – revealed that as a collective, the country’s shoppers spent over £162 billion on clothing each year. 

The average monthly expenditure per person on clothing was found to be £250, which worked out as £3,000 across a whole year. 

What else did we learn from the study about Britons’ fashion expenditure? 

It was also revealed by the research, as will be of interest to many a luxury and lifestyle marketing agency and its clients, that 35% of Britons had purchased fashion items over the previous 12 months. 

In terms of age groups, those in the 25-to-34-year-old category were found to be the biggest spenders on fashion, at £524 per month. This placed the cohort well ahead of the next closest, 35-to-44-year-olds, who mustered average monthly expenditure of £322 on fashion goods. 

Most observers won’t be taken aback, meanwhile, to see that women were well ahead of men when it came to spending on clothing; £459 a month, whereas men only spent £150. 

Similarly, it probably won’t be a shock for many of our readers to discover that Londoners put more money into fashion spending than people in other UK cities, averaging £555 in monthly expenditure. 

There were also insightful findings on other areas of lifestyle spending 

Four-fifths (80%) of respondents to the Aqua research agreed that their lifestyle expenditure was reflective of their personal values or identity and “the powerful role of social media in driving financial decisions, and how many of these purchases ultimately lead to regret”. 

In the ranking of lifestyle spending categories, although eating out placed at the top (56%), beauty was also positioned highly (39%) – an indicator of Britons increasingly yearning for self-care and convenience. 

A similarly impressive percentage was recorded for physical self-care services, such as hairdressers and manicures. This outcome, in the words of the Aqua report, further suggested “the importance placed on personal presentation and wellness”. 

When fashion and beauty were combined, the monthly average expenditure in these areas reached £399. This was higher than food and drink (£251) and technology (£246), which underscored that even amid continuing cost pressures for customers, “personal style and aesthetics are still high on the priority list”. 

What about the role of social media in driving UK consumers’ buying decisions? 

This is a very pertinent question. Sure enough, Aqua’s research got more than 70% of participants to admit social media had been an influence on their lifestyle expenditure. 

Of the various individual platforms, Facebook was ranked as the most influential, with a 49% reading. It was followed in the ranking by its sister Meta platform, Instagram (47%), and then TikTok (42%) – both networks known for their highly visual, trend-driven content. 

Placed further down the rundown of influential social platforms were YouTube (37%), X (formerly Twitter, with 14%), Pinterest (12%), and Snapchat (9%). Even some of those lower-positioned social media networks, however, enjoyed traction with certain niche audiences. 

Among consumers in the over-35 age bracket, Facebook was an especially potent driver of spending. Predictably, though, when it came to those aged from 16 to 24, TikTok enjoyed a dominant position of influence (78%), while for the 25-to-34-year-old cohort, it was Instagram that held the greatest sway (61%) over buying decisions. 

More than six in 10 (61%) adult Britons, however, admitted they had previously regretted purchases made as a consequence of social media, trends, or peer pressure. This is a reminder of the scale of the emotional and financial fallout of expenditure on lifestyle items. 

Act on insights like these with the help of our lifestyle marketing agency

However, surprised or unsurprised you might be by many of the Aqua report’s findings, you will probably agree with us that they paint an instructive picture of the spending landscape across the lifestyle, luxury, and fashion sectors in Britain today. 

To begin tapping into such insights in ways that support your brand’s healthy and sustained growth, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our creative, strategic, and digital experts. 

Enquire to the London-based, but globally minded team at Skywire London today, and we will be pleased to discuss with you how our respective organisations could best work together. 

Photo by Joshua Thomas on Unsplash