Christmas is almost here and retailers now have a good idea of how this year’s holiday spending is shaping up. Though consumers spent less on average this year than the last, longer store hours on Thanksgiving Day and popular electronic items drove up tech revenue during this year’s biggest shopping weekend.
Market research firm NPD today released its weekly report showing that consumer electronic sales the week of Black Friday increased 10% year-over-year in 2013. Revenues from tech product sales reached close to $5 billion during the annual holiday shopping kick-off.
“Strong promotions, new players, new product categories; these were all the things the industry needed after several stagnant years,” said Stephen Baker, VP of industry analysis at NPD. “Holiday sales growth is an important momentum builder for 2014. However, it is important to remember that with much of the volumes driven by heavy promotion, similar outcomes in 2014 are much more uncertain.”
According to the report, tech spending this Black Friday was heavily led by big-ticket items. Tablets, notebooks, and TVs accounted for more than $3.1 billion of this year’s Black Friday tech revenue alone.
TVs raked in more than $1.4 billion this Black Friday and were the largest revenue-generators during the week. Tablets came in second with a massive 105% increase in unit shipments over 2012.
Other electronic devices also saw huge year-over-year growth. Streaming speakers, streaming video players, sound bars, and headphones saw record revenue growth during this year’s Black Friday shopping week.
“We are beginning to see emerging product categories contribute significantly to the overall market growth, said Baker. “For example, headphones didn’t break into 2010’s top 50, but they were the fourth largest revenue category in 2013. The most significant sign of positive holiday momentum is that all of the top five categories delivered positive revenue in 2013.”
According to NPD the higher revenues this year were driven by lower average sale prices for many of the most popular consumer electronics devices. The firm’s data shows that average sale prices on Black Friday have been dropping consistently for the past few years.