Record Number of Americans to Buy Tech Over Black Friday Week, Says CTA
A Commpro News Update
Almost half the U.S. adult population, 116 million, are planning to purchase tech or tech accessories during Black Friday Week. According to the Consumer Technology Association's (CTA) 2016 Pre-Black Friday Survey, there is a ten percentage point jump in the number of American adults planning to buy tech products from the Monday before Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday (November 21-28, 2016).
“By all accounts, the 2016 Black Friday week looks like it will be a record breaker for tech,” said Shawn DuBravac, Ph.D., chief economist, CTA. “Even with delayed promotions from retailers and manufacturers, and signs of pre-election uncertainty, we expect consumer enthusiasm for technology purchases during the holidays to be higher than ever.”
Top Tech for Black Friday Week
Among U.S. adults intending to purchase tech products during the week of Thanksgiving, the top ten tech products shoppers plan to buy are:
- Televisions (returning as the top-selling tech product after two years)
- Laptop computers (jumping two spots from last year’s list)
- Smartphones
- Videogame consoles
- Tablet computers
- Headphones
- Tech accessories
- DVD or Blu-ray Disc players
- Digital cameras
- Wearables
“Outside of the tech perennials – TVs, laptops, smartphones – expect to see front page circular deals from a variety of retailers on emerging products including drones, virtual reality and digital assistant devices such as the Amazon Echo or Google Home,” said DuBravac. “On average, half of the unit volume of newer, emerging categories sells in the fourth quarter alone – a promising indicator for these new and innovative products.”
Over the course of the fourth quarter holiday season, CTA projects strong U.S. sales for:
- Drones (1.2 million units in the 2016 holidays, a 112 percent increase over 2015)
- VR (700,000 headset units during the 2016 holiday season)
- 4K Ultra High-Definition (4K UHD) TVs (2016 holiday shipments of 4.5 million units)
Unstoppable Online and Mobile Shopping
In total, a record 180 million U.S. adults plan to shop during Black Friday Week. Almost half (46 percent) of U.S. adults – 114 million people – plan to shop online, and notably, over two thirds (70 percent of online shoppers) plan to use mobile devices. Most Black Friday Week shoppers still plan to shop at a physical store (54 percent).
