Black Friday-Cyber Monday: Retail Shopping Numbers Trickle in
December 2, 2009 By: Stephen ColwellDeep Discounts Are Moving GPS Products
Over the 24-hour period following Black Friday, retail analysts have begun releasing retail data corresponding to sales of the top electronic products being purchased the day after Thanksgiving. Initial reports are by retail monitors such as Pricegrabber.com (which has measures consumers preference buying and manufacturing discounts) and ShopperTrak (a private analytical firm that measures sales volume). ShopperTrak* indicates that overall consumer spending is up by 0.5% this season where 10.660 billion was accounted for this weekend versus 10.606 in 2008 for the day after Thanksgiving.
ShopperTrak co-founder Bill Martin believes even a slight increase is a positive sign for the industry. “We’ve seen a gradual retail sales increase over the last two weeks and with Black Friday’s performance it looks like November will be a positive month for retailers compared to last year which is an encouraging sign,” he said.
It has been obvious the personal navigation device (PND) and GPS product manufacturers had laid roadmaps to attract the potential onslaught of consumers expected to purchase some form of location device. For the last 45 days manufacturers have rolled out new product offerings to seed their potential revenue acquisition from Black Friday through Cyber Monday.
Garmin nuvi 265WT GPS
“Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”
The reports from “big box" retailers is rather downplayed as the hope of Cyber Monday still exists. The location-based services (LBS) manufacturers are keeping their fingers crossed that the deeply discounted prices, coupons, free shipping, and upgrades will drive those remaining consumers into their products and pockets.
Pricegrabber.com has listed the rather shocking discounting going on within the most popular category of this season's stocking stuffers. Needless to say the manufacturers need to move inventory and the distributors need to move volumes to make up for that usual juicy margin they have enjoyed. Best Buy, WalMart, and Toys are Us are not reporting being overwhelmed with shoppers so far this season. "Retailers rose to the challenge of enticing shoppers on Black Friday in a tough economy this year. They advertised a number of different incentives prior to Thanksgiving weekend, including aggressive pricing, free shipping, and free accessories with a purchase," said Laura Conrad, president of PriceGrabber.com. "These significant category increases show how these extra incentives captured the attention of our savvy shoppers."
According to PriceGrabber.com, the discounting of retail products looks like this:
- Docking stations drop from $138 to $69, a 50% decrease
- MP3 Players drop from $132 to $88, a 33% decrease
- Plasma & LCD TVs drop from $1296 to $963, a 26% decrease
- GPS drops from $208 to $167, a 20% decrease
- Microwave ovens drop from $289 to $256, a 12% decrease
Garmin nuvi 765T GPS
Garmin Coming Up Roses
For Garmin, a well-thought-out pre-holiday strategy has begun to pay off, at least in the U.S. market for consumer location devices. Their products, according to Pricegrabber.com, occupy the mainstream of purchasing interest with three nuvi products making it to to the top 10 list.
Top 10 Most Popular Products for Black Friday 2009**
- Wii console
- nuvi 265WT GPS
- Apple iPod touch 8GB
- D90 SLR digital camera kit
- Digital Rebel XSI 12MP black digital SLR camera with kit
- nuvi 765T GPS
- Wii Fit
- Apple iPod Touch 16GB
- nuvi 255W widescreen automotive GPS
- Nintendo DS Limited Edition Pokemon Pack
The week ahead is full of jobs, housing, and economic releases. Hopefully the OEM consumers looking for the right location product will not be influenced to close their pocketbooks before it’s time. I will recap the final numbers in about 10 days so our readers will have the latest data.
* Permission granted by National Retail Sales Estimate (NRSE), Retail Traffic Index (SRTI), and ShopperTrak RCT Corporation
** Coutesey PriceGrabber.com
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