Predictions of retail holiday hell didn't exactly come true on Black Friday. Not online, anyway. Researchers instead found double-digit year-over-year gains in Web shopping.
Estimates varied little. PriceGrabber.com, for example, reported an 11% increase in traffic at retail sites while Nielsen Online says that its Holiday eShopping Index counted 31.7 million unique visitors to online stores, a 10% gain.
Here's a list of the 10 most popular products with e-shoppers on Black Friday, as identified by PriceGrabber:
|
Rank |
Product |
Company |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Nintendo Wii console |
Nintendo |
|
2 |
Ugg Australia "classic short" boot |
Deckers Outdoor (NASDAQ:DECK) |
|
3 |
Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray disc player |
Sony (NYSE:SNE) |
|
4 |
Samsung LN52A650 52-inch LCD TV |
Samsung |
|
5 |
Nintendo Wii Fit |
Nintendo |
|
6 |
Panasonic TH-42PX80U 42-inch plasma TV |
Panasonic (NYSE:PC) |
|
7 |
Sennheiser HD 555 headphones |
Sennheiser (private co.) |
|
8 |
Canon EOS Rebel XSi Black SLR digital camera kit |
Canon (NYSE:CAJ) |
|
9 |
Acer Aspire One AOA110-1295 notebook PC |
Acer |
|
10 |
Canon PowerShot A590 IS black digital camera |
Canon |
Sources: PriceGrabber.com.
Geeks got game
Interestingly, only Canon and Stock Advisor selection Nintendo placed two products in the top 10. Cameras and game consoles are this year's Cabbage Patch Kids and Beanie Babies, apparently.
At least for one day, anyway. At Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), the Oprah-backed Kindle leads all electronics sellers, followed by two of Garmin's (NASDAQ:GRMN) GPS systems. Sony's Blu-ray player -- the same one PriceGrabber ranked third -- is fourth at Amazon. Nintendo's Wii Fit, meanwhile, ranked tenth in video games. Its DS Lite Limited Edition was first.
Investors are still correct to be skeptical of most retailers. But not those who cater to game and gadget geeks. If Black Friday is any indicator, demand for virtual tennis and digitally enhanced air guitar is as big as it's ever been.
Stop and shop for related Foolishness:
- Get your Black Friday bargains here.
- Sell the Internet retailers? Not yet, Fool.
- That's one hot Kindle.
