An estimated 51.2 million American adults (45% of all shoppers) bought or planned to buy consumer technology products during the 2014 Thanksgiving shopping weekend, according to a survey released by the Consumer Electronics Association. The estimates include today, christened not long ago as “Cyber Monday.”
CEA’s “2014Black Friday Report” also finds that while overall shopping traffic was down slightly this holiday weekend compared to last year, several areas saw growth, including reported spending per person and tech purchases.
“We saw more shoppers putting tech in their baskets this holiday weekend — 45% — than in any of the last three years,” says CEA Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac. “Only clothing, at 69%, was more popular among consumers; and toys were again third, at 43%. This shows tech is poised to enjoy strong sales throughout the entire 2014 holiday season.”
In total, 113.2 million U.S. adults (46%) shopped or plan to shop over the holiday weekend from Thanksgiving Day to Cyber Monday — down 18 million shoppers from 2013.
CEA estimates Americans will spend $39.9 billion over the entire 2014 Thanksgiving shopping weekend, which encompasses today’s purchases as well. While the number of shoppers declined in 2014, consumers who shopped spent more, with an average of $371 — a 4.8 percentage point increase over 2013.
“Black Friday and Cyber Monday were once relatively independent shopping days, but they’ve expanded into a 10-day shopping period that encompass the days ahead of Black Friday as well,” said DuBravac. “A drop in shopping traffic over the holiday weekend is likely due to transactions being pulled forward, as retailers offer more deals in-stores and online earlier in the week than in previous years.”
Among the 51.2 million Americans adults who bought or were planning to buy technology products over the weekend, TVs (37%) were the most popular CE device purchased or planned to purchase. Tablets (35%), notebook computers (23%), videogame consoles (23%) and portable wireless speakers (23%) were the other most frequently anticipated tech purchases over the holiday weekend.
CEA’s estimates are based on a telephone survey of some 2,000 U.S. adults.
