According to the Abacus Indicator from Broomfield, CO-based direct marketing services provider Abacus, apparel and accessories was the largest product category for sales last year, accounting for approximately $0.29 of every $1 spent on the Abacus B2C Alliance database. Purchases totaled nearly $6.9 billion from 62.6 million transactions, with an average order size of $110. Not surprisingly, female apparel accounted for the bulk of the total, bringing in approximately $5.3 billion.
“The apparel and accessories category grew 6% last year. After declining the previous two years by 3% and 5%, this increase was a welcome relief for apparel retailers,” says Casey Carey, vice president of marketing for Abacus.