Hi-Tech Christmas for US Shoppers

Retail sales of consumer technology for the month before Christmas were 6.5% up on the year, according to weekly point-of-sale (POS) data from The NPD Group. LCD and plasma TVs, MP3 players and navigation systems were among the big gainers this year.

Sales from the week of Black Friday through the week ending December 23, 2006 rose to $8.75 billion. The week before Christmas was the busiest ever for retailers with almost $2.5 billion in sales, more than 28% of all holiday volume, up from 27% last year, suggesting more of a last-minute panic than ever.

VP Industry Analysis Stephen Baker comments: 'The sales pace that started on Black Friday continued through Christmas. Revenue is still increasing but at a slower rate.' The 6.5% rise represents a slowdown from 10% last year, while final week sales were up only 11% compared to 23% last year. Baker attributes this to factors including 'huge price reductions on in-demand items, such as flat-panel TVs, as well as Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday, which eliminated revenue totals from that day into the last shopping week's final numbers'.

This year's top five categories were LCD and plasma TVs, digital cameras, notebook computers and MP3 players – between them accounting for 42% of overall volume. The average selling price of plasma TVs has plummeted from $2,400 in 2005 to $1,582 this year. Other categories saw smaller falls in average price, but would probably exhibit similar falls if items were compared like-for-like. For example, the average LCD TV is now much larger, MP3 players more sophisticated etc..

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Among other findings, NPD reports that over 5.1 million MP3 players were sold, making it the best-selling product category with a retail price over $100; notebook computers captured about two-thirds of PC sales; and navigation systems were the fastest growing category at retail with revenue increasing by 143% percent and unit growth up 309%.

'Pricing and availability were two of the main reasons so many categories did well' says Baker. 'Consumer technology is not just for the tech geek anymore, it's marketed for everyone from grandparents to their grandchildren. Every year we see new products enter the market, making it fresh and desirable for consumers to keep spending.'

Weekly data comes from a subset panel of retailers that also contribute to NPD's projected monthly POS panel. Consumer Technology sales include IT, imaging, audio, video, and consumables. The NPD Group is online at www.npd.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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