Poll: Flat Panel Topped Holiday Wish Lists

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Thanks to compressed price points that put flat-panel TVs within the reach of vastly more consumers, the thin form factor displays were the holiday gift of choice according to an exclusive shopper poll conducted for TWICE by Campaigners, the full-service field sales and marketing agency based here.

Over 17 percent of shoppers cited LCD or plasma TV as the consumer electronics product they would most want to give as a gift or to purchase for themselves for the holidays. But even with successive rounds of price cuts, flat panels remained big ticket items, making them an unusually pricey choice for gift giving.

Indeed, the balance of CE gift preferences were smaller in both size and price point. The second-most popular CE product category, coming in a close second to flat panel, was digital cameras, which was cited by 16 percent of respondents, followed by MP3 players at 12 percent. Given their form factors, both could serve as stocking stuffers, and are readily shippable from e-commerce sites or to distant gift recipients.

Statistically tied for fourth place, in descending order of preference, was computers (both notebooks and desktops) at 10.1 percent; camcorders, at 8.5 percent; and video game consoles, at 8.3 percent.

Over 600 shoppers were queried by Campaigners, which conducted the survey in national and regional CE chains before, during and after Black Friday weekend.

Other popular wish list items, for themselves and others, included GPS devices (7.3 percent), mobile handsets (6.3 percent), direct-view or rear-projection TVs (5.5 percent), DVD players and/or recorders (3.6 percent), cordless phones (2.4 percent) and portable CD players (1.7 percent).

Campaigners is a full-service field sales and marketing agency that has created hundreds of campaigns for clients including DirecTV, Fujifilm, JVC, LG, Motorola, Roxio and Vonage. The firm was founded in 1997 by former Hewlett-Packard marketer Melissa Orr, and has since driven more than $3 billion in retail sales through its in-store assisted sales, demonstrations, retail entertainment events, sales associate training, merchandising, and market intelligence services.

Campaigners conducts its field work with educated, highly trained and motivated "Delegates," the company said. For more information, visit www.campaigners.com.