Ho-Hum Season Sees Drop in Women's Apparel Sales

Women's spending on apparel for the first half of the Christmas season is down, alarming retailers and spawning broad worry in the industry. Experts blame a bleak economy and blah fashions for a slump of nearly 6% compared with a year ago, reports the New York Times. Men’s clothing sales, on the other hand, rose 4.5% in the first 20 days of the season.

In other good news, sales of electronics rose 5.8% and luxury item spending was up 10.8%, MasterCard said in its midseason snapshot. E-commerce, the star of the season, was up 30%. About $285 million has already been spent on holiday purchases. Retailers expect spending to rise 4% this year, the worst growth in 5 years. (More retail sales stories.)