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Toy sales - Cyber Monday and Black Friday
November 28, 2007
I am continuing to read the tea leaves and am finding some reasons for cautious optimism. Black Friday was followed by a strong Cyber Monday. In a November 27, 2007 article by Joseph Galante, Bloomberg.com is reporting a 21% increase in Cyber Monday sales over last year. For those not familiar with Cyber Monday, it is the name coined for what is considered to be the opening shot of the Internet shopping season, the Monday after Thanksgiving.
This followed an even more impressive internet showing on Black Friday with “Information Week” reporting in a November 26, 2007 article by K.C. Jones, that online sales were up 29% over last year.
"Information Week" went on to report more good news in a National Retail Federation report that broke out some of the bricks and mortar sales for Black Friday. This report gave evidence that toys sales were respectable. The article reported that “. . . the most popular items purchased were clothing or clothing accessories (46.8%) as well as books, CDs, DVDs, videos, or video games (41.7%). Other popular purchases this weekend included consumer electronics (35.7%), toys (28.2%), and gift cards (21.0%), according to NRF.”
That’s all good news but there was reason to be cautious. Internet sales for toys on Black Friday showed an increase but trailed, sometimes dramatically, other categories. The article reports:
“Video games, consoles, and accessories held the top slot for hottest retail product category, with a rise of 134% compared to Black Friday last year. . . The furniture, appliances, and equipment category rose 36%, while consumer electronics rose 21%. Online sales of toys rose 9% this year compared to last. . . attributed the slower growth in that category to recent disclosures about several toys containing toxic materials. “
Stay tuned.
Posted by Richard Gottlieb on November 28, 2007 | Comments (0)
