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Tech Is Tops With Consumers For Holiday 2016

Tech is top of mind with consumers when it comes to holiday promotions.

According to a new report by shopping advice site BestBlackFriday.com, 40 percent of Americans are “most interested in seeing deals” this holiday season for electronics, including TVs, computers, tablets and mobile phones, representing the largest product category.

CE was followed by clothing/apparel at 23 percent; toys/video games at 12 percent; appliances at 4 percent; and jewelry at 3 percent.

As to where they hope to find these deals:

*40 percent cited Amazon;

*19 percent said Walmart;

*10 percent targeted Target;

*8 percent are betting on Best Buy; and

*2 percent await Apple.

According to BestBlackFriday co-founder Phil Dengler, it comes as no surprise that shoppers are most interested in Amazon’s deals. Nevertheless, “It is fairly shocking how much they win by,” he noted, having assumed a tighter race with Walmart.

Apple, he added, does not partake in Black Friday sales events and only conservatively discounts its products throughout the rest of the holiday season, which accounts for its low score.

Given the heightened attention to Amazon, it should also come as no surprise that, if allowed only one option, the majority of Americans (54 percent) would prefer to shop online rather than in physical stores during the holidays. In reality, most consumers will shop both retail channels, Dengler said.

When it comes to holiday budgets, most shoppers (52 percent) plan to spend about the same as last year, while a third — nearly 82 million Americans — expect to spend less.

BestBlackFriday found that younger shoppers (ages 18 to 29) are slightly more inclined to spend more, and that the purse strings tend to get increasingly tighter with age.

Finally, with the holiday ads coming sooner and sooner, so too are Christmas shopping excursions. According to the report, nearly 10 percent of consumers are already done with their holiday shopping (!) and 19 percent, or 47 million Americans, will be finished before November.

“While Black Friday, Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday are still extremely important for retailers and shoppers,” Dengler observed, “Labor Day sales, Columbus Day sales, and Pre-Black Friday sales starting in early November are luring shoppers to begin much earlier than ever before.”

Still, Americans are a procrastinating if self-aware bunch, and fully 20 percent said they don’t expect to close out their gift lists until Christmas week.

The BestBlackFriday report was based on a SurveyMonkey poll of 502 adults conducted Oct. 2-3 and analyzed by co-founder Eric Jones, a statistics professor at New Jersey’s Rowan College.

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