Circana, the agency formed from the merger of IRI and NPD earlier this year, said in its most recemt consumer spending report that U.S. sales of consumer electronics “were generally lackluster over Black Friday Week and Cyber Week when compared to last year, in line with broader discretionary general merchandise spending trends.”
Researchers at the company said that while sales dropped during these promotion weeks, “Black Friday Week performed better with a 3 percent year-over-year decline in unit sales and 4 percent decline in dollar sales.” Circana described the results as an improvement over the prior four weeks. The company also said the results included “some category-specific areas of growth.”
Overall, the Black Friday shopping week found retailers facing a more value-focused consumer “when making some of their bigger ticket tech purchases.” Circana said unit sales of televisions increased 3 percent compared to the 2022 Black Friday week.
Paul Gagnon, consumer technology industry adviser for Circana, said this year’s holiday tech consumers “are more focused on the value of their purchase than just getting the lowest price.”
“Retail real estate noticeably centered around digital creators this Black Friday, emphasizing microphones, mounts, lighting and entry-priced streaming sticks and security cameras,” said Ben Arnold, consumer electronics industry analyst for Circana. “There is a different mix of categories vying for a slice of the holiday budget this year, including the latest game consoles and new VR headsets.”
Gagnon said this year’s Black Friday shoppers had a more leisurely shopping experience “with ample inventory to choose from as they took advantage of bargains on big screen TVs and opted for higher priced computer purchases.”
Circana also noted that the average selling prices of tech products “were a mixed bag during the two traditionally peak holiday shopping weeks, consisting of promotional pricing activity as well as purchase shifts to some higher-priced products.”
“Over Cyber Week, the overall average prices on tech purchases were only down slightly compared to last year but were actually higher in some key categories like computers and audio,” the report’s authors said. “Compared to last year, October prices were lower than those seen so far during the core holiday shopping period. Beyond TVs and computers, higher-end camcorders and detachable lens cameras also got attention from consumers over Black Friday Week, driving the average selling price of the overall camera category up 20 percent compared to last year.”
Gagnon said shoppers are beginning to “emerge from their pandemic splurges and looking for products that they feel are worth spending on in the current economic environment.”
