Diving into emerging trends in men’s retail across EMEA and APAC regions, Mintel recently shared their research on menswear trends, shopping habits and who the leading retailers are in the UK. The challenging economic landscape has no doubt influenced consumer behaviour, with a rising number of shoppers seeking less expensive retailers. Favouring cheaper online retailers like Amazon and ASOS for purchasing their clothing, with more than half of British consumers opting for them.
The most prominent age demographic for shopping for menswear online is 55-64 years old. Meanwhile two-thirds of 25-34-year-olds opted for online retailers to buy menswear in 2022, this figure decreased by nearly 10 percent in 2023. Younger consumers, aged 16-34, are also shopping less frequently at higher priced high street stores and luxury retailers. This shift from luxury to value in young people highlights the behaviour change that relates directly to men’s retail budgets.
In recent years, the retailers that most men are choosing to shop within the UK are M&S, Next, and Primark. The precise usage figures do fluctuate between generations, with almost 25 percent more people aged 65+ shopping at M&S than people aged 35-44. A similar usage gap exists between 16-24-year-olds and 65+ year-olds shopping in Primark, which is favoured by younger audiences.
Shein has a much greater divide between generations. The divide between the awareness of Shein between the youngest and oldest respondents was an enormous 65 percent, with only two percent of people aged 65 purchasing their menswear from the online giant.
In China, there has been a rapid increase for active and leisure wear for men. In the study, six in ten Chinese consumers said that good quality was the most important purchasing factor when buying sports and leisure clothing, followed by cost-effectiveness, demonstrating a strong desire for practicality.
The male skincare category has been slow to innovate, with large focus remaining on mattifying, moisturising and whitening benefits. This gap in innovation presents an opportunity to meet the growing demand for preventive-ageing skincare and holistic acne products sought out by younger consumers, such as Gen Zs and Millennials.
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