Children’s Apparel Drives Online, Department Stores’ November Sales

Children’s apparel helped increase overall sales across the Internet and at department stores during the busy shopping holiday. Dillard’s reported an 8 percent increase in same stores sales for the four weeks ended November 27, 2010, and according to a statement released by the company, sales of children’s apparel were “significantly” above trend compared to the same time period in 2009. J.C. Penny’s also reported an increase in Internet sales via JCP.com, driven in large part by children’s apparel. And according to MasterCard’s SpendingPulse November 2010 Retail Report, eCommerce was back in double-digit growth in November, led mainly by children’s apparel, which rose sharply by 33.3 percent over the previous year.