The CEA has predicted a 2.5% YoY increase in spending on technology products during the end-of-year shopping season in 2014. The organisation’s chief economist, Shawn DuBravac, made the announcement at CES Unveiled New York recently. The figure only covers spending in the USA.
Five themes were outlined by DuBravac. These were:
* An improving economic environment supporting spending growth;
* Spending growth driven by narrowly-defined demographics;
* Perennially popular technology devices likely to define what technology gifts are given;
* The broadening and deepening of online sales, with the use of mobile devices continuing to reshape purchase patterns; and
* An early start to seasonal spending, followed by an earlier ending than usual.
According to the CEA’s survey results, tablets topped technology wish-lists, desired by 13% of consumers. They were followed by notebooks (11%), TVs (8%), smartphones and game consoles (7% each). Speaking specifically about TVs, DuBravac said that UltraHD shipments will reach about 800,000 this year, with “a large part” of those sales in Q4. 90% of UltraHD TV purchases are in the 50″ – 70″ screen size range, with just over 33% of those in the 60″ – 70″ range. The CEA believes that as many as 3 million UltraHD TVs could be sold next year.
77% of consumers said that they would buy their technology gifts from a physical store. However, 54% (up from 45% last year) said that they would also use online sources. 26% of respondents planned to buy more online this year than last year. Around 67% of consumers buying online said that they expected to use a mobile device to help them shop.
