2. Unspectacular Sales
As the menswear sector of the apparel market has generated significant revenue growth, women’s wear is stagnant at best, with just a minuscule % sales increase at women’s clothing stores from 2014’s $ billion to 2015’s $ billion.
Store sales have only been marginally better through the first 7 months of 2016, totaling $ billion, which is just an 0.04% increase, compared to the same period during 2015, which totaled $ billion.
Of course, department stores account for significant women’s clothing sales, but during the first 7 months of 2016, they’ve fared even worse. Total sales have been $ billion, or a 4.4% decrease, compared to $ billion for the first 7 months of 2015.

3. Dissecting the Demographics
Data from The Media Audit’s Fall 2015– Winter 2016 surveys, representing almost 48 million Americans in multiple US markets, reveal that 52.5% of women 18+ bought women’s clothing during the past 4 weeks, with 36.1% 25–44 and 25.7% 50–74.
Although 61.9% of women 18+ who purchased women’s clothing during the past 4 weeks were Caucasian Americans, African American and Latina American women were also significant buyers, at 16.1% and 17.1%, respectively.
It’s interesting that just 14.0% of men 18+ purchased women’s clothing during the past 4 weeks, which included the 2015 holiday shopping season, whereas the Menswear Profiler reported that 23.4% of women 18+ had purchased men’s clothing.

4. Activewear’s Advantage
According to research from Deutsche Bank, the popularity of activewear or athleisure apparel with both men and women increased sales in this sector 4.1% during the years 2008–2015, while overall apparel sales increased a weak 0.2%.
A May 2016 Quartz article stated that many major clothing manufacturers, especially for women, have not responded well to this lifestyle and apparel shift, which has resulted in many major retailers suffering because they don’t stock enough activewear.
The NPD Group reported during September 2016 that activewear sales increased 5% at department stores and 3% at national chains through August, but decreased at athletic specialty and sporting goods retailers, which typically lead in this category.

5. Plus Sizes Sizzle
According to a May 2016 article on Bloomberg Gadfly, clothing retailers are overlooking a $20 billion opportunity to sell more women’s plus size apparel. Sales of “Misses” size, 14 and larger, increased from $17.4 billion for 2013 to $20.4 billion for 2016.
Major retail stores (department and women’s apparel) have inconsistent inventories of plus sizes, which has driven more consumers to buy online, exacerbating brick-and-mortar stores’ inability to compete with e-commerce across all consumer sectors.
The article reports that an online search of the J.C. Penney Website found just 16% of the dresses were plus size. At Nordstrom, it was only 5%; Nike had only 5 choices; and Under Armour posted a message that it was working to add ANY inventory of plus sizes.

6. More Apparel Purchases Moves Online
According to Internet Retailer, US online apparel sales totaled $80 billion during 2015, a 19.7% increase compared to 2014, which was 5% more than all US e-commerce sales, while apparel sales in brick-and-mortar stores increased just 1.1% during 2015.
Apparel sales on Amazon appear to have had the most impact, as apparel and accessories sales increased 48% to $16.3 billion for Amazon’s increasing share is being taken primarily from brick-and-mortar stores.
Despite Amazon’s share gain, the e- commerce channel of the top nine department stores in Internet Retailer’s top 1,000 e-commerce businesses increased sales 19.5% to $15.6 billion for 2015.

7. Resale Revolution
A sub-sector of women’s apparel that might offer some ad sales opportunities is the fashion resale market, which is forecast to increase from $14 billion during 2015 to $25 billion by 2025.
The top 3 designer brands in the women’s apparel resale market are Theory, 7 For All Mankind and Diane von Furstenberg; mainstream brands, Ann Taylor, J. Crew and Banana Republic; and value brands, Old Navy, Forever 21 and Mossimo.
The top 3 most active resale cities are New York City; Washington, DC; and Los Angeles; the fastest growing resale cities, Harrisburg, PA; Denver; and Columbus, OH; and the top emerging resale cities, Jackson, MS; Toledo, OH; and Albuquerque, NM.

8. Advertising Strategies
With so many consumers doing their holiday shopping earlier, offer a declining discount, with the largest discount before November 1st and a second level prior to Thanksgiving.
Retailers can demonstrate their community involvement during the holidays with a discount for customers who bring a food item for the local food bank, used clothing or shoes for the Salvation Army thrift market or a Christmas decoration for a local children’s home.
Pitch your TV/digital advertising expertise to a women’s clothing resale retailer with commercial content and Website ads that features the potential savings for various items.

9. New Media Strategies
Invite customers to upload a video of a group-shopping trip to Instagram and to vote on the one with the most fun or funny moments. Offer a prize for the entire group that includes Uber fare from one of their residences and a “girls’ lunch” or “girls’ night out.”
A women’s clothing resale retailer can ask a few loyal customers to serve as “brand ambassadors.” For every photo and/or video post in which they model the designer brands available at the retailer, they receive discount points for their next shopping trip.
Since Latino American families love to shop together, promote a scale of discounts on social media and in the mobile channel, in particular, based on how many generations of Latina Americans from the same family shop at the store as a group.

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