TORONTO – Apple's iPad is the most-desired item on holiday season wish lists this season, according to a national survey by Toronto-based consultancy, Solutions Research Group (SRG).
Overall, though, the company found a cautious consumer sentiment leading up to the end of the year. Fifteen percent of Canadians said they will spend more this year on holiday shopping but 32% said they will spend less and 53% said they will spend about the same.
The survey of 1,000 Canadian consumers was conducted during the first week of November 2011 by Solutions Research Group (SRG).
After the iPad, rounding out the top five are clothes, a new TV, a laptop and a vacation. Number six was an iPhone.
“As tablets, mobile phones and eReaders boom, some related consumer electronics categories declined somewhat in terms of mentions from last year. Clearly, the consumer has only so much money to spread around all these devices,” says the press release.
Among the decliners from last year:
• iPod and MP3 player mentions declined by 21%
• New TV mentions declined by 19% (now ranked #3 vs. #2 last year)
• laptops and desktop PCs combined declined by 11% in mentions
• There were slight declines in total mentions of video game consoles and Blu-Ray players as well.
However, other notable digital items were GPS devices, Mac computers, digital cameras and video games. While not in the top 10, these products will also do well this Xmas season, reports SRG.
“Tablets were by far the top growth category between 2011 and 2010, almost doubling in mentions (+80% growth). iPad mentions accounted for 83% of all tablet mentions, landing the brand in the #1 spot.
“Mobile phones were also a growth category, increasing +23% year-over-year in mentions. Smartphones accounted for three-in-four mentions in the mobile phone category. Apple's iPhone had the most mentions by a significant margin over Android and BlackBerry,” says the release.
