BURLINGAME, Ca. – Rising unemployment and reports of a worsening economy have forced consumers to pinch pennies in recent months. Still, many opened their wallets a little the week after Thanksgiving and spent 9 percent more on online purchases than they did in the same period a year ago, comScore said Monday.
Electronics got a big boost online after Turkey Day. According to comScore, sales of gadgets rose 24 percent from Dec. 1 to Dec. 5.
ComScore didn’t provide specific product sales information, but Amazon.com gave Forbes.com a list of its 20 best-selling electronics on Dec. 1, also known as Cyber Monday. Hot items included Logitech’s Harmony Universal remote, Garmin and TomTom portable global positioning devices, Hewlett-Packard’s PhotoSmart printer, Canon’s PowerShot digital camera, iPod Nanos and iPod Touches, Kodak’s EasyShare digital picture frame and Sony and Panasonic Blu-ray players.
The most expensive item on Amazon’s Cyber Monday list was a Sony Blu-ray player that sold for around $250. All told, Amazon said the number of unique visitors to its site rose 10 percent to 29.5 million last week compared with the same period a year ago.
Missing from Amazon’s list were high-definition flat screen TVs, which have been discounted heavily but are still pricey. “Consumers are both value conscious and price sensitive,” says Gartner analyst Van Baker.
The only category that did better than electronics the week after Thanksgiving was sports and fitness equipment and paraphernalia. According to comScore, this category saw a 35 percent increase in sales compared to the same period a year ago.
While hopes may be buoyed by the Cyber Monday turnout, Baker predicts that consumers will be snapping their wallets shut again until retailers march out with even bigger discounts.
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