Researchers at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) foresee a record-breaking Black Friday consumer tech sales. The number of Americans saying they intend to buy tech products from the Monday before Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday (Nov. 21-28) jumped 10 percentage points from last year’s level, according to CTA’s ¨2016 Pre-Black Friday Survey.¨
A record 180 million U.S. adults plan to shop during Black Friday Week this year. Nearly half (46%) – 114 million people – plan to shop online. Also of note, more than two-thirds (70% of online shoppers) plan to shop using mobile devices, although most Black Friday Week shoppers (54%) said they still plan to get out and shop at a ¨bricks and mortar¨ outlet.
“By all accounts, the 2016 Black Friday week looks like it will be a record breaker for tech,” CTA Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac stated in a press release. “Even with delayed promotions from retailers and manufacturers, and signs of pre-election uncertainty, we expect consumer enthusiasm for technology purchases during the holidays to be higher than ever.”
Conducted in the wake of the presidential election, CTA’s survey revealed that the outcome shouldn’t have a significant impact on the timing of holiday season shopping purchases. Just 12 percent said they plan to shop later this year because of the election.
Black Friday Consumer Tech Sales
Survey results also revealed the top 10 tech products holiday shoppers said they intend to purchase Thanksgiving Week:
- Televisions (returning as the top-selling tech product after two years)
- Laptop computers (jumping two spots from last year’s list)
- Smartphones
- Videogame consoles
- Tablet computers
- Headphones
- Tech accessories
- DVD or Blu-ray Disc players
- Digital cameras
- Wearables
In addition, CTA projects strong sales for the following during this year’s 4Q holiday shopping season:
- Drones (1.2 million units in the 2016 holidays, a 112 percent increase over 2015)
- VR (700,000 headset units during the 2016 holiday season)
- 4K Ultra High-Definition (4K UHD) TVs (2016 holiday shipments of 4.5 million units)
“Outside of the tech perennials – TVs, laptops, smartphones – expect to see front page circular deals from a variety of retailers on emerging products including drones, virtual reality and digital assistant devices such as the Amazon Echo or Google Home,” DuBravac said. “On average, half of the unit volume of newer, emerging categories sells in the fourth quarter alone – a promising indicator for these new and innovative products.”
