One out of every four gifts purchased during the upcoming holiday shopping season will be consumer electronics, with shoppers forking over $21 billion in total for the gadgets, up 4% from $17 billion last year.
For the second year in a row, MP3 players topped the wish list among adults followed by digital cameras, PCs, computers, TVs, video game systems, DVD players/recorders, cellular phones, camcorders and HDTVs. Teens asked for MP3 players, video game consoles and computers, according to the Consumer Electronics Association’s 13th Annual CE Holiday Purchase Patterns study.
“The holiday outlook for our industry is a merry one,” said Sean Wargo, director of industry analysis for the CEA. “Consumers’ confidence in the economy is on the rise and the consumer electronics industry will benefit.”
Digital cameras topped gift-buying lists, followed by cellular phones, MP3 players, video game consoles, portable CD players, carrying cases, cordless phones, additional memory for digital cameras, laptops and clock radios.
Meanwhile, overall household spending for the holidays (factoring in gifts, decorations, food, travel and other assorted holiday expenses) will climb 14% this year to $1,625. Of that, half will be spent on gifts (a 27% jump over last year). Consumers will spend $195 on average for consumer electronic items, the CEA said.
Consumers tend to shop with a “one for you-one for me” mindset during the holiday season. “As a result, gifts for others only account for about half of the volume of sales in the fourth quarter,” Wargo said.
Year over year, the consumer electronics industry continues to experience rapid growth and is expected to garner $149 billion in sales in 2007, a 6.7% climb over this year’s projected $140 billion, the CEA said.
For the report, the CEA, based in Arlington, VA, conducted a random national telephone survey in September of 1,019 U.S. consumers.
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