San Francisco – Consumers will allocate more gift spending
this holiday season on CE products than ever before, according to the Consumer
Electronics Association (CEA) 17
TH
Annual CE Holiday Purchase
Patterns Study, released at the CEA Industry Forum, here, this morning.
The study shows consumers will be spending an average of
$232 on CE gifts this year, up 5 percent from $222 last year, an all-time high,
CEA said.
In addition, 31 percent of all holiday season gift spending
will be on CE, up 2 percent from 29 percent last year.
When buying CE as holiday gifts the CEA survey shows that 32
percent will start shopping in November and 27 percent will begin in December.
Pricing most important (84 percent), followed by return
policy (81 percent), ease of purchase (79 percent) and past experience at store
(78 percent), the survey indicated.
Mass merchants will be popular, with 66 percent shopping at
those outlets, 60 percent at electronics stores, 40 percent at warehouse clubs
and 46 percent online.
In the device/hardware list of what consumers will be giving
others, the top five categories (and the percentages) go like this:
1.
Video game consoles, 24 percent
2.
MP3 players, 22 percent
3.
Notebook/laptops, 21 percent
4.
DVD or Blu-ray players, 19 percent
5.
Smartphones, 17 percent
What is notable is that TVs came in sixth at 16 percent,
which had been a more popular category in recent years.
In CE accessories the top five categories include video game
accessories, 26 percent; memory cards and carry cases tied at 24 percent;
headphone/ear buds were fourth at 23 percent; and PC accessories and MP3
speaker docks tied at 15 percent.
The overall Holiday CE Wish List was, from No.1 to No. 5:
notebook/laptop, iPad, e-reader, iPod/iTouch and video game systems.
TVs ranked as high as seventh on this list.
For teens the same Holiday CE Wish List is, from No. 1 to
No. 5: portable MP3 player, iPod/iTouch, video game console, notebook/laptop PC
and cellphone. TVs did not appear on the
teen wish list.
Among other notable findings of the survey:
·
Seventy-four percent of consumers are planning
to buy CE as a holiday gift.
·
Giving CE is more popular than ever, with 37
percent planning to buy a CE gift for a spouse/significant other (up from 27
percent in 2009).
·
Twenty-nine percent will buy CE for themselves
(up from 28 percent in 2009).
·
Forty-eight percent will buy a CE gift for
children (up from 43 percent in 2009).
