TWICE On The Scene: Newegg Ramps Up For Black Friday 2011

By Alan Wolf On Nov 21 2011 - 6:01am

EDISON, N.J. – Among its many attributes, Newegg.com is renowned for its fulfillment efficiency.

The No. 1 IT/CE specialty e-tailer boasts that all orders received by 3:30 p.m. are shipped that day from one of three regional distribution centers, and Black Friday is no exception. Last year fully 85 percent of all Black Friday orders were processed before Saturday despite the number of packages more than quadrupling to 165,000 from the typical 40,000 per day.

 

 

Video & Audio Center Cuts Ribbon On Store, Adds Sony 3D SKUs

By TWICE Staff On Nov 21 2011 - 6:01am

LAWNDALE, CALIF. — Video and Audio Center celebrated the opening of its fourth showroom with the introduction of Sony’s Digital Recording Binoculars that record in 3D and 2D FullHD video and the company’s new Personal 3D Viewer.

The event, held here earlier this month at the new location, drew local dignitaries as well as Sony Electronics’ Phil Molyneux, president/COO; Mike Fasulo, executive VP; Drew Temple, senior technology trainer, Sony Digital Recording Binoculars; and Aaron Levin, marketing manager, Sony HD/3D Personal Viewer.

Abt Celebrates TWICE Award

By TWICE Staff On Nov 21 2011 - 6:01am

The following letter was received from Bob Abt, CEO of Abt Electronics:

To The Editor:

We cannot begin to thank you for the handsome award and your nice letter congratulating our company on winning the 2011 TWICE Excellence In Retailing Award – Best CE/Appliance Dealer.

My family and our entire staff are honored to have been awarded in this category by the editors for the third time since the program was created eight years ago.

CE Sales Surged Over Black Friday Weekend

By Alan Wolf On Dec 5 2011 - 6:01am

NEW YORK – Deep discounts on TVs, laptops, Blu-ray Disc players and low-end tablets led to a banner Black Friday weekend for CE.

Adam Levin, CEO of Levin Consulting, estimated that weekend sales of consumer electronics were up between 8 percent and 10 percent from last year, based on his team’s on-site observations at a statistically significant 200-plus stores.

“We saw crowds buying CE at traffic levels that were easily the highest of the last five years,” he noted in a Black Friday recap for clients.

Best Buy Biggest Winner On Black Friday Weekend: Analysts

By Alan Wolf On Dec 5 2011 - 6:01am

NEW YORK – Early-bird shoppers aside, who were the big winners over Thanksgiving weekend?

According to The NPD Group, Best Buy was the fourth most frequently shopped retailer behind full-line merchants Walmart, Target and Amazon, which sell a much wider variety of products. Best Buy also enjoyed the highest conversion rate, with more than 58 percent of shoppers actually making purchases, compared with just 38 percent last year, representing the largest gain among the four rivals.

CE Spurs Record Black Friday

By Alan Wolf On Dec 5 2011 - 6:01am

NEW YORK — Earlier store openings, a bargain-hungry consumer and the lure of deeply discounted TVs and laptops contributed to the largest Black Friday sales haul in history Thanksgiving weekend.

Americans spent a record $52 billion from Thanksgiving through Sunday, or $398.62 per shopper, a 9.1 percent increase from last year, the National Retail Federation (NRF) reported, while traffic to stores and websites rose 6.6 percent to hit an all-time high of 226 million visits.

M-Commerce Sales Share Growing: IBM

By Alan Wolf On Dec 5 2011 - 6:01am

ARMONK, N.Y. – Mobile devices are playing an increasingly important role in online sales.

According to IBM’s Smarter Commerce service, nearly 11 percent of shoppers used a mobile device to visit e-tail sites on Cyber Monday, up from 3.9 percent in 2010. This helped spur a 187 percent increase in mobile channel share, to 6.6 percent of all Cyber Monday purchases.

The move to mobile was also evidenced by eBay, which reported a 397 percent increase in the number of customers shopping through PayPal Mobile on Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday Nets $1.25 Billion: ComScore

By Alan Wolf On Dec 5 2011 - 6:01am

ARMONK, N.Y. – Cyber Monday web sales topped $1.25 billion, making it the heaviest online spending day in history and the second day on record to surpass the billion-dollar threshold.

According to market research firm ComScore, spending surged 22 percent over Cyber Monday 2010, the previous record holder.

TWICE On The Scene: Black Friday

By Alan Wolf and Steve Smith On Dec 5 2011 - 6:01am

NEW YORK – As with many American families, it has become a tradition here at TWICE to hit the bricks early on Black Friday morning for some on-the-scene reporting (and maybe even a doorbuster or two). This year was no different, save for the larger crowds and earlier starting times.

PC Returns Remain Highest Within 15 Days

By TWICE Staff On Dec 19 2011 - 6:01am

REDMOND, WASH. — Computers and computer peripherals continue to be among the consumer electronics products that consumers most commonly return within 15 days of purchase, according to Siras, product registration, return validation and lifecycle tracking services provider.