Retailers chuffed with Xmas sales

Retailers report that technology items rang the tills over the festive season, despite last year seeing SA enter a recession.

The economy was hard hit in 2009, with several thousand people losing their jobs in the wake of the US economy crashing the year before.

However, despite this, retailers are reporting an improvement in sales of technology products, with hot items being netbooks and digital photo frames.

Incredible Connection CEO Dave Miller says netbooks and notebooks were the season's biggest sellers. “We sold a huge amount of netbooks and notebooks - a little more so than anticipated.”

However, other items such as photographic equipment, gaming consoles and gaming software, and global positioning systems sold very well. Apple products, such as iPods and Macs, also went through the tills quickly.

Incredible Connection had a record sales month at the end of last year and saw a 15% improvement on the previous December, Miller adds.

Sales of technology items at Massmart subsidiaries Game and Dion were also brisk, with the biggest surprise being digital photo frames, which were the “biggest hit for gifts”, says corporate affairs executive Brian Leroni.

He says LCD televisions in the bigger sizes sold well, as did single lens reflex cameras. Bundle options were seen as good value for money, says Leroni.

Netbooks excelled in the computer category. “This sub-category of computers is fast becoming extremely popular, due to its affordability,” says Leroni. He adds that Apple Mac computers sold out at the exit price points.

On the gaming front, Nintendo Wii continued to perform with the launch of the black model. However, handheld gaming devices and navigation products did not sell well. Leroni puts the slow sales of GPS units down to increased functionality of mobile phones, which are incorporating navigation applications.

Game and Dion saw the shopping period start later in the year, with most sales occurring in the last two to three days before Christmas. “Consumers were obviously sticking around until the last minute waiting for the best deal,” he says.

Makro, another Massmart division, saw a different trend, with shopping starting sooner than previous years. “There was a definite sales upswing from the end of November, which ran through to Christmas,” says Leroni.

The mass discount store says LCD televisions sold well, and - unlike at its counterparts Game and Dion - GPS units were popular. Leroni points out prices have halved in the past year.

Gaming recorded good sales figures, with 1 700 black Nintendo Wii units selling in three weeks. He says, however, that the recession did have an effect on sales, with people buying down. For example, consumers bought external hard drives instead of upgrading desktop machines.

Sales of technology goods moved up by mid-single digits compared to last year.

Online sales also showed an improvement. Justin Drennan, CEO of local online store WantItAll, says festive season sales last year were a threefold improvement on the previous year. “It's the strongest Christmas we've ever had.”

He says there is a definite growth trend, and sales in January are strong so far. Amazon's e-book, the Kindle, was the top selling item “by miles”. Drennan says the company sold a few hundred units and - at one stage - was selling 30 to 40 Kindles a day.

The usual suspects, such as notebooks and MP3 players, also sold well. However, people visited the Web site to buy unusual items such as the pet hamster, Zhu Zhu, which WantItAll was not able to stock as it could not source the product, he says.