Camera Deals Entice Black Friday Shoppers

By Greg Tarr On Dec 6 2010 - 6:01am

NEW YORK — Although Black Friday traditionally conjures up images of rampaging crowds carrying dozens of large flat-panel TVs up to checkout counters, anecdotal accounts found that digital cameras may have been among the most popular CE category sellers this year.

According to leading industry analysts who shopped stores in various markets of the country over the long Thanksgiving weekend, some of the longest lines were seen at digital camera counters, where door buster specials of well under $100 were offered for some of the latest point-and-shoots.

“We saw promotions, door busters and bundled/rebates across all camera segments,” said Chris Chute, IDC worldwide digital imaging research manager. “I think what was different in 2010 was that consumer demand roared back across all CE sectors, including cameras; this was the missing piece in 2008 and 2009 holidays.”

Similarly, Liz Cutting, NPD consumer technology digital imaging industry analyst and executive director, acknowledged that as expected, camera makers also pushed d- SLR bundled packages heavily during the Black Friday period, often using instant rebates or “instant savings” to close the deal.

“The large number of d-SLR bundles wasn’t surprising. Perhaps this was due just to the fact that d-SLRs are in high demand,” Cutting surmised. “As one of the tech sizzle categories they’re competitive traffic drivers. The accessory attach rates around holiday periods are impressive, and perceived values through bundles motivate a large number of consumers to purchase, for ‘self gift’ or unselfish giving.”

In the Portland, Ore., area, one TV market analyst remarked that lines seemed longer for digital camera doorbusters this year than they were for the television specials.

“There were really long lines to look at cameras in several retailers,” said Tamaryn Pratt, Quixel Research principal, adding, “Maybe the bloom is off the rose for HDTV” as season product movers.

“It’s hard to compete when some camera prices are cheaper than $39 for a kit,” Pratt added.

Camera specials were liberally peppered across newspaper flyers from virtually all national and regional retail chains, in CE specialists and mass-merchant discount chains. They were also plentiful on retailers’ e-commerce sites for both the Black Friday and Cyber Monday periods.

Among the most popular brand participants this year were again Canon and Nikon, followed by such other noteable brands as Kodak, Sony and Samsung.

hhgregg offered a Canon SX30 14.1-megapixel camera bundled with an 8GB SD card and case for $369; there was also a Canon T2i d-SLR bundle with body, 18-55mm IS lens, 75-300mm lens, 8GB SD card and gadget bag for $899.

From Nikon the chain featured the D3000 d-SLR in two kit promotions: one including a body, 55-200mm lens, 8GB SD card and SLR zoom holster for $549, and the other including a body, 55-200mm lens, 18-55mm lens, 8GB SD card and zoom holster for $599.

Also among the hhgregg doorbusters was a Kodak 3x zoom and 12-megapixel digital point-and-shoot with a 3-inch LCD for $59.99 after a $10 mail-in rebate.

Best Buy offered Nikon’s D90 d-SLR at a $1,029 online special, the Nikon Coolpix 10.3-megapixel digital point-and-shoot camera (P100) at $319, the Coolpix 12-megapixel S4000 at $129, and the Nikon Coolpix 12.1-megapixel S70 $159.

The chain also featured Canon’s EOS Rebel T2i 18-megapixel d-SLR camera at a $799 special, and the Canon PowerShot SX130 IS 12.0 megpixel point-andshoot at a $179 special.

Walmart focused on models from Canon, Nikon, Kodak, Samsung, Sony and VTech, offering the Canon EOS Rebel XS 10.1-megapixel d-SLR in a bundle with an 2GB SD card and bag for $479, the Nikon Coolpix L110 for $199, the Kodak C183 for $59, the Samsung DualView PL100 for $99, the 14-megapixel Sony W330 point-and-shoot for $119 and the VTech KidiZoom camera for $19.

As with many chains, instant rebates were the popular motivators over the holiday shopping period.

At B.J.’s, for example, a $50 instant rebate was offered for the Canon PowerShot SD1300 and A3000 pointand- shoot cameras, while an $80 savings was featured on a 14-megapixel PowerShot SD1400is.

For Nikon the chain featured the Coolpix L110 with a $30 instant saving ($80 savings total), the Coolpix S4000 with a $30 instant savings ($50 total), and the Coolpix S3000 and S6000 with $30 instant rebates.