With on-line shopping sales experiencing annual double-digit growth in the last few years, it looks like new girl-targeted e-tailer WickedCoolGirls (wickedcoolgirls.com) may be joining the party at just the right time. According to the 2005 Goldman Sachs, Nielsen//NetRatings and Harris Interactive eSpending Report, e-tail sales in tween-girl friendly categories such as apparel and consumer electronics shot up 42% and 126%, respectively. And thanks to Brett Dewey, CEO and founder of vintage on-line retailer WickedCoolStuff (wickedcoolstuff.com), girls have a new destination to find the hippest merch out there.

WickedCoolGirls is Dewey’s response to surveys conducted last year via WickedCoolStuff that suggested the site predominantly appealed to boys and young men. The new e-tailer has a decidedly feminine look, with soft colors and squirley fonts, and focuses on stocking fashionable apparel and accessories, including Care Bears and Barbie merch.

The approach is paying off so far, as traffic’s picking up. Just eight weeks since its launch the site is logging 120,000 hits a month. And while it’s too early to say which category is the runaway winner, Dewey says the t-shirts are leading the way in sales. The current top-seller is a pink Superman t-shirt (US$18.95), with a Care Bears plush (US$5.95) coming in a close second. In fact, he believes toys have the best long-term potential for generating revenue at WickedCoolGirls and plans on adding more plush and novelty SKUs to the site’s 1,000-item lineup; he’s always on the lookout for new merch and hot trends.

Dewey is something of an expert at tapping into the tween psyche. The former screenwriter for Saved By The Bell started the on-line business out of his North Hollywood garage in 1999. The site grew as a tween-targeted on-line retailer selling licensed vintage-cartoon merch, and currently boasts around 3,200 SKUs, with new ones being added daily – ranging from US$3 stickers to US$345 statues.

WickedCoolGirls is one of many planned spin-offs. SuperHeroStore.com already launched in May selling superhero-related merch, and more sites are slated for the coming year.