CEA: CE Dominates Most Black Friday Weekend Sales

By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 11/28/2010

Arlington, Va. - Electronics were among the most popular items purchased this weekend, as more consumers bought electronics this Thanksgiving weekend than last year, according to interim results from a new survey from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and Caravan.

In a study released late on Saturday, CE was found to be the most purchased category this Black Friday weekend, increasing in popularity over last year. Among those who went shopping on Friday, 58 percent bought some type of consumer electronic product, second only to clothing.

In comparison, 54 percent of Americans purchased CE products during last year's Thanksgiving weekend. CEA's 17th Annual CE Holiday Purchase Patterns Study showed consumer electronics were among the most wanted gifts of any kind this holiday. On average, the study showed the average consumer will spend $232 on CE this year, up 5 percent from last year and the highest figure in the history of the study. 

Consumers hit stores over the weekend in search of deals and special Black Friday promotions. Consistent with CEA's holiday forecast, the most popular electronics shoppers purchased this weekend were portable MP3 players; video game consoles and accessories; and computers, including notebooks and tablets.

Nearly half of those surveyed had plans of shopping this weekend, with roughly 27 percent of U.S. adults having already shopped as of Friday. Mass merchants were the most popular shopping destination for not only electronics, but all gifts. More than three out of four (78 percent) of those surveyed shopped at a mass merchant, with those stores also being the most popular for electronics purchases. Online retailers were also a winner this weekend. Fifty-three percent of consumers who purchased electronics on Thursday purchased online, saying they found the same or better deals as at retail stores.

CEA's 2010 Black Friday Survey presents the interim findings of a telephone survey conducted among two national probability samples, which, when combined, consists of 568 adults -- 283 men and 285 women -- 18 years of age and older, living in the continental United States. Interviewing for this Caravan Survey was completed on November 26, 2010.  CEA said 469 interviews were from the landline sample and 99 interviews from the cellphone sample.

CEA is gathering more information with a complete report to follow.

TWICE will hold a Black Friday webinar with a full report from The NPD Group on Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 2:00 p.m. EST with TWICE senior editor Alan Wolf, Stephen Baker of NPD, Jim Ristow of Home Entertainment Source and Warren Chaiken of Almo. Click here for more information on the webinar and to register.