Dollar sales in the seventh week of the 2016 holiday shopping season were 11 percent lower than that of the same week in 2015, according to The NPD Group’s weekly point-of-sale results for key general merchandise categories across in-store and online channels. Cumulatively, dollar sales in the first seven weeks of the 2016 holiday shopping season were 4 percent behind the first seven weeks of the 2015 holiday season.
Each of the five industries being tracked—apparel, toys, technology, athletic footwear, and prestige fragrances—saw dollar sales decline, with the seventh week being the steepest for the holiday season so far. Apparel perfomed the best of the five industries being tracked, with the lowest decline of the week. Top performing categories include home automation, PC’s, stereo headphones, games/puzzles, and instant print cameras.
