December Sales Beat NRF Forecasts; Children’s Apparel Top Category

Holiday sales rose by 4.1 percent, to $471.5 billion, topping the 3.8 percent growth initially predicted by the National Retail Federation, the organization announced Thursday.

December retail sales figures released by the Commerce Department Thursday show total retail sales for the month increasing by only 0.1 percent over November, but by more than 6 percent year-over-year.

However, some department stores turned in disappointing results, due in part to unseasonably warm weather that froze demand for cold-weather merchandise, according to Chain Store Age. In the discount store and department store sectors, Costco Wholesale Club, Target Corp., and Kohl’s Corp. were among the chains that missed expectations, while Macy’s Inc., Nordstrom and TJX Cos. all did better than was expected.

Children’s apparel and women’s accessories were the top performing merchandise divisions at J.C.Penney, the company reported.