2010 Holiday Stats Show Consumers Hot for CE: CEA

Nearly three in four consumers who plan to spend money on gifts during the holidays intend to aim their dollars squarely at technology products – the highest percentage of tech-leaning holiday shoppers in the 17 years the Consumer Electronics Association has been studying holiday shopping trends.

“That was a key finding,” said Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry analysis, who, with the group’s chief economist, Shawn DuBravac, presented fine-tuned unit-sales-projection updates for the holidays on figures provided just last month. The newer figures were given at a Nov. 9 New York City-held CEA briefing on the 2011 International CES.

CEA’s research showed no change between October and November in the 5.1 million units of tablets that are expected to be sold through to the U.S. market during the holiday season. A modest rise was noted in the projection for flat-panel TV sales – from 10.51 million projected in October to 10.74 million projected in November. Blu-ray player projections dipped very slightly, from 4.77 million units to 4.76 million. Projections for MP3 players were up to a small degree, from 12.83 million to 12.88 million units, and digital camera projections were adjusted from 14 million to 14.3 million units, while camcorders dropped from 2.65 million to 2.41 million.