PriceGrabber.com's Top 5 Things You Didn't Expect to See on Black Friday
With 47 percent growth in traffic to merchants year over year on both Black Friday and Thanksgiving Day, PriceGrabber.com reveals consumers got an online jump on this year's holiday shopping season.
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 24, 2007 -- PriceGrabber.com®, a part of Experian, today revealed Black Friday shopping data from its site showing continued growth as consumers go online to kick off this holiday season on Thanksgiving Day. Popular product categories from Black Friday include: Electronics, Computers, Clothing, Cameras and Video Games.
PriceGrabber.com estimates the total volume of merchant referrals generated to sellers on Black Friday has increased 47 percent over last year with an average order referral of $431. According to JupiterResearch, "Online buying continues to grow, relatively unfettered by macroeconomic factors. In fact, online retail sales for the 2007 holiday season will increase by 20 percent over sales for the 2006 season to surpass $39 billion."
PriceGrabber.com is a resource to shoppers -- helping them find the right product, from the right retailer, at the best price. The site also offers insight on consumer shopping behavior and trends.
Top Five Things We Didn't Expect to See on Black Friday
1. Black Friday shopping started on Thursday -- consumers started shopping online earlier than expected this year with a 54 percent growth year over year in traffic to merchants on the Thanksgiving holiday.
2. Video Games -- The Nintendo Wii dominated the hotly-contested video game console marketplace with a sales lead increase of 467 percent over 2006, easily beating the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2.
3. The Microsoft Zune beat all models in the Apple iPod line in searches this year. Interest in the Zune, has increased 246 percent in recent days and receives 13.3 percent of all inquiries in the MP3 market. The Zune offers a lower price point compared to similar players and includes a built-in FM Tuner.
4. Clothing picks up speed -- Women's apparel has seen an increase of more than 100 percent over the last six weeks leading into the holiday season. Leading the most popular clothing categories are women's shoes and handbags.
5. Toys made in the U.S.A. -- Statistics show that there has been a 650 percent increase in keyword searches of "Made in USA" on PriceGrabber.com year over year. PriceGrabber.com's Holiday Shopping Survey revealed that 73 percent of online shoppers said that it is important this holiday season to purchase products that are made in the USA. With recent reports of the possibility of the millions of toys manufactured in China being recalled for lead contamination and loose magnets, toys are going to be closely scrutinized this holiday season.
Top-selling Products on Black Friday
1. Nintendo Wii Console
2. Microsoft Zune 30GB Media Player - Brown
3. TomTom ONE 3rd Edition GPS
4. Activision Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock Bundle
5. Canon PowerShot SD1000 Silver Digital Camera
6. Microsoft Office 2004 Student and Teacher
7. Western Digital My Book Essential Edition External 500GB Hard Drive
8. Magellan Maestro 3100 GPS
9. Canon PowerShot SD750 Digital Camera
10. Canon EOS Regel XTi Black SLR Digital Camera
Top-Selling Product Categories on Black Friday
2007 Top Product Categories
1. Plasma & LCD TVs
2. Digital Cameras
3. GPS Navigation Systems
4. Toys
5. MP3 Players
6. Laptops
7. Wii
8. Shoes
9. Women's Handbags
10. Computer Flash Memory
2006 Top Product Categories
1. Digital Cameras
2. Plasma & LCD TVs
3. MP3 Players
4. Toys
5. Laptops
6. Women's Handbags
7. GPS Navigation Systems
8. Fine Jewelry & Watches
9. Living Room Furniture
10. Xbox 360
PriceGrabber.com will continue to track online shopping trends and pull product information for Cyber Monday. To search and compare information on millions of unique products and services from thousands of retailers and sellers, visit www.pricegrabber.com.
About PriceGrabber.com
PriceGrabber.com, part of Experian Interactive(SM), has established itself as one of the most trusted and effective online comparison shopping services, allowing approximately 24 million consumers each month to search and compare information that enables them to find the right product from the right retailer at the best price. Through continued innovation and a consistent focus on providing the best comparison shopping experience on the Internet, PriceGrabber.com provides savvy shoppers access to millions of unique products and services from thousands of retailers and sellers in 23 product channels. The company also powers comparison shopping functionality for a network of leading Internet sites, including MSN Shopping, AOL Shopping, About.com, iVillage Comcast and CNET. The company offers comparison shopping in English (at http://www.pricegrabber.com), Spanish (at http://www.preciomania.com) and Portuguese (at http://www.precomania.com) as well as international sites in Canada and the United Kingdom.
PriceGrabber.com is headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. PriceGrabber is a registered trademark, and PriceGrabber.com and BottomLinePrice are trademarks of PriceGrabber.com, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
