ustry hasn't been doing all that well. During the 2nd Quarter of 2000, apparel sales have tapered off for several reasons. Increasing interest rates have slowed the U.S. economy, consumers have built up their stock of most clothing items, and there has been a lack of exciting new fashions on the marketINDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT Distribution ChannelsAs discussed earlier, apparel retailers include department stores, mass merchandisers, specialty stores, national chains, discount and off-price stores, outlets, mail-order companies, and online sales. Department stores were once-and some still are- perceived as the apparel leaders, but these stores in reality only sell about nine percent of the garments consumers buy annually. Meanwhile specialty stores like Old Navy, The Gap, and Abercrombie & Fitch have about a 13 percent apparel unit share. Mid-tier retailers like Sears, JCPenny and Kohl's have a 14 percent unit share. According to NPD, a market research company, catalog companies represent almost 10% of apparel retail sales through direct mail. Consumers have less time to shop and thus, catalog purchasing offers a time-saving convenience for straight re-buy purchases. The internet represents approximately $6.5 million of e-commerce purchases, but only represents 0.6% of total apparel on-line sales. This segment is lower because of concerns regarding speed, ease-of-use, and security problems. When these problems are solved, this sector is likely to mirror the catalog sales channel and may substitute for catalog sales. Lastly, discount stores, such as Wal-Mart and Kmart have 45% of the apparel market. These statistics are shown in the pie chart below:CONSUMERS As shown in the chart above, the women's consumer segment dominated the U.S. apparel sales market in 1999. Throughout the years, women have been constant and dominant consumers in this industry. Womens apparel sales growth was 3.7% and men's apparel growth was 4.1%. Women buy at a constan...
