Smaller Cities Lead In-Store Apparel Growth

While New York and Los Angeles are the largest U.S. markets in terms of apparel sales, the fastest rate of retail growth is happening in smaller markets such as Orlando and Washington, D.C., according to research released yesterday by The NPD Group Inc. (Port Washington, N.Y.).

Reviewing the top 25 designated market areas (DMA) in the U.S., NPD found that online sales of apparel increased most, but few grew in-store sales during the 12 months ending February 2015.

Although total apparel industry dollar sales grew 2 percent during that period, sales of apparel purchased in stores declined 2 percent. The downward trend of in-store sales was true for most of the top 10 U.S. markets. Washington, D.C., was the only one with notable in-store sales growth.

The top markets, based on apparel sales growth, were Orlando, Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Cleveland and Detroit.

“The big regions are no longer leading apparel industry sales growth,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst, The NPD Group. “When New York and Los Angeles don’t even make it into the top 10 list of DMAs driving apparel growth, we have a big opportunity gap in the market. We need to understand the cause in order for the apparel industry to regain traction moving forward.”