PCs, Digital Camera Sales Healthy Over Holiday Weekend
Monday December 1, 2:22 pm ET
By Donna Fuscaldo, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Shoppers weren't out for just the must-have toy or sweater during the Thanksgiving shopping weekend, sales of notebook computers, digital cameras and printers also fared well.
Based on preliminary data from a handful of computer makers and electronic retailers, sales of most things digital were in hot demand, leading some to believe that the strength will carry through to the entire holiday season that kicked off on "Black Friday" and culminates on Christmas Eve.
ADVERTISEMENT"What we've seen in the past is what happens this weekend is very indicative of how things will play out through the holiday cycle," said Bill DeLacy, vice president of consumer sales at Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ - News) .
The Palo Alto, Calif., computer hardware and software maker said it saw double digit, year-over-year sales growth of digital cameras, printers and computers.
In an interview on CNBC on Monday, Vyomesh Joshi, H-P's vice president of imaging and printing, said sales of digital cameras rose more than 10% while notebook sales increased more than 50%.
While H-P said it expected demand for notebook computers to be strong during the extended shopping weekend, thanks to the proliferation of wireless computing, DeLacy said strength in sales of desktop computers was a "pleasant surprise."
DeLacy attributed that strength to a replacement cycle by consumers, which have made due with their old computers for several years now. He noted that H-P is currently at or above plan in every product category in terms of sales expectations for the holiday season.
For a second year in a row, computer makers and retailers are reporting healthy year-over-year increases in initial sales or traffic at its stores or web sites for the extended holiday weekend. Some are predicting the strength will carry through to the holidays, something that failed to materialize last year.
Take Best Buy Co. for example. Spokeswoman Erin MacMillan said the electronics retailer is confident it will have a strong holiday season this year. Thanks in part to aggressive promotions, MacMillan said notebook computers, MP3 Players, digital cameras, digital camcorders and digital TV's sold at a healthy clip during the weekend. And although the results are preliminary, MacMillan said orders on bestbuy.com appear stronger than last year as were some store lines.
At Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - News) , spokeswoman Karen Burk said some of the hot electronics items included DVD players, digital cameras and desktop computers. She said consumers were lured by the values Wal-Mart had to offer and that as long as the discount retailer continues to focus on value, it should have a good holiday season.
"For now ... it appears holiday sales are off to a very strong start" said Bill Shope an analyst at JP Morgan, who in conjunction with the JP Morgan retailing team gathered data from a slew of electronics retailers across the country over the Thanksgiving weekend. He said overall traffic in consumer electronics stores were strong and sales appeared to be "fairly robust."
According to Shope, the must-have gadgets included notebook PCs, particularly systems that cost less than $1,000, photo printers and digital cameras. Shope noted that the trend bodes well for H-P and Dell Inc. (NasdaqNM:DELL - News) , with H-P benefiting the most because of its retail PC and printing exposure. Officials at Dell weren't available to comment.
But H-P and Dell aren't the only ones that should benefit from a strong holiday shopping season. Gateway Inc. (NYSE:GTW - News) , which has transformed itself from a computer maker to a purveyor of consumer electronics, said early results show that digital cameras and digital TVs were among its hottest selling items. Gateway is still analyzing its overall traffic and sales data, said spokesman Bob Sherbin.
Recently, shares of H-P were trading up 0.7%, or 16 cents, to $21.90, while Dell's stock increased 20 cents, or 0.6% to $34.77, and Gateway's shares climbed 1.6%, or 7 cents, to $4.53.
Meanwhile, Best Buy's stock was recently off 2%, or $1.21, to $60.79, and Wal- Mart was off 1.2%, or 69 cents, to $54.95.
-By Donna Fuscaldo, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5253; donna.fuscaldo@dowjones.com
