• by Masha Geller , August 22, 2003

Back to School shopping is in the full swing and it looks like the Apparel category is doing quite well online (minus a brief slowdown due to the East Coast blackout.)

According to comScore's latest stats, in July, more than 34 million Americans visited a site in the Apparel category. A total of 28 properties were visited by more than 500,000 Internet users in July, and Otto Gruppe, which includes Spiegel.com and EddieBauer.com, was the leading Apparel property, with 4.3 million unique visitors.

We're talking about significant dollars here - more than $500 million. Online spending on apparel and accessories was up 43% in June and 44% in July versus year-ago levels. This growth rate outpaced not only total non-travel spending, but also the year-over-year growth rate for the Apparel category in the previous six months (36%).

Importantly, while the total number of Internet users grew just 1% from June to July, back-to-school shoppers drove visitation to the Apparel category up by more than 12%. This growth was driven in large part by strong increases at a number of teen-oriented Apparel sites. Of the top 25 sites in the Apparel category, Alloy showed the greatest increase in visitation from June to July (66%). Other teen apparel and accessory retailers experiencing strong increases in July included Delia.com (34%), Zappos.com (34%), PacSun.com (32%) and HotTopic.com (30%).

Additionally, while they may not be able to buy online without a parent's help (or at least their credit card number), teenagers are for apparel manufacturers and retailers among the most sought-after age segments. With the Internet among teenagers' most preferred entertainment sources, online marketing can be an extremely effective tool for reaching and generating buzz among teens.

Comparing July to the previous month, 8 of the top 10 Apparel sites experienced a significantly higher increase in visitation among users age 13 to 17 (range of 7% to 191%) than the total category (5%), with HotTopic.com coming out on top.

On that happy note, I'm taking a brief break from online advertising and marketing next week, but I'll be back on Sept. 2, ready to face whatever the future holds. See you in September!