Insights on the Plus Fashion Market

The plus size fashion business is a profitable industry. In 2019, the womans plus fashion industry raked in $480 billion dollars and is expected to reach $696 billion by 2027 (Allied Market Research). With over half of the women in the U.S. falling into plus sizing categories, more brands are leaning toward inclusive sizing and benefiting from it. If you have not expanded your product line to include plus sizes, now is the time to re-think your business strategy.  

Let’s start with the importance of being first to market in a growing industry, or total available market (TAM). While the plus fashion industry is growing, it still only accounted for 13% percent of the overall U.S. apparel market in 2020 (StyleSage). Surprisingly, availability and selection for plus clothing is still relatively small, as the below graph illustrates:  

The relative scarcity of plus clothing presents a significant opportunity for growth, especially if you jump in now to snatch your share of a growing TAM. As a member of Bloom Dropship, you have a strategic advantage over your competitors given the wide selection of plus apparel at your fingertips. Seventy-five percent of all styles in our weekly fashion launches are size inclusive, so carrying plus is a slam dunk. 

Selling inclusive sizes is a great sales growth opportunity, but you may be asking how to begin marketing to the plus size market. When expanding your target audience, a good place to start is with the 5 Ps of Marketing: Product, Price, Place, Promotion and People.  

Product – As a Bloom Dropship member, this part of the marketing equation is easy. Let Bloom do all the plus size shopping for you and simply select from a wide variety of on-trend plus apparel each week. 

Price – Bloom Dropship offers competitive wholesale prices though their relationships and volume discounts. Your part is to research your local market to assess competitive retail pricing and your related mark-up.

Place – Leveraging a quality and dependable fashion drop shipper offers business flexibility. Place of sale can range from websites and social platforms to brick & mortar stores or pop-up sales and events. 

Promotion – This is the fun part: get creative and switch up your marketing with email campaigns, fit and style videos, live sales, in-house wine and cheese gatherings, seasonal promotions and more.  

People – This is the target audience you will market and sell to. In this case, plus size women. 

The 5 Ps of Marketing is a fundamental element of business. But marketing strategy can change and evolve depending on macro-economic factors, local market competition and your target audience. What is the best way to market to the plus audience? Social media, inbound marketing and content creation are all effective ways to get your plus size sales to grow. Let’s go over these areas.  

Social media is a huge part of any marketing plan and a fantastic way to build your brand and drive traffic to your website. According to recent data, around 54% of social media users use social platforms to research brands and products, and 89% of consumers who follow a particular brand will purchase from that brand. Why not take advantage of the most powerful tool to push your brand name? 

Inbound marketing can drive customers to your website or social sites. You may have heard email marketing is dead? Well, it is not dead, and to the contrary is very effective. Many online marketing tools such as Mail Chimp are available to help create compelling email campaigns. You can also use Bloom Dropship’s weekly launch banners to promote new arrivals via social posts or emailing your customer base. Blogs are also a type of inbound marketing. Through key word searches, blogs attract customers based on their interests that could relate to what you are selling. 

Content creation is another form of marketing and overlaps with social media and inbound marketing. Content creation ranges from blog posts, pictures and videos, sales campaigns, ads, and everything in between. Create something eye catching that fits with what you are trying to sell to your target audience. 

Women today are embracing body positivity and body acceptance. Representation has become a big part of our media culture and the fashion industry is a big part of that. Not only can you grow sales with inclusive sizing, but you can offer a fun shopping experience and foster a sense of being understood. Now is the time to create exciting marketing campaigns, grow sales and be a part of an important social movement by selling plus clothing!