People Want Practical Gifts This Holiday Season

Nov 16 2009, 9:52am CST | by Robert Evans

Put away those Faberge eggs! Hide the fancy jewelry! Send the $5,000 massage chair back to the factory! The holiday season, usually a time to receive expensive, impractical luxury items, is going to be a bit different this year. In light of the recession, people are starting to ask for the things they need this year, rather than the things they want. A recent survey by Black & Decker and Zogby International showed that 70% of consumers plan to ask for necessities over luxuries this season.

Considering the crappy state of the economy, that's not hard to understand. If you're unemployed and freezing, a sweater makes a better gift than a Zune HD. The survey did show that about 17% of people wanted an even split of practical and luxurious gifts. While Black & Decker used this announcement as a way to push their ReadyWrench, cordless canister vacuum, and other practical gifts, I'm more interested in what this means for the tech industry.

Traditionally games, consoles, computers, and handheld devices like PMPs and smartphones all do very well over the holiday shopping season. That's why we've seen so many hot deals popping up from all around lately. Unfortunately, since most gadgets definitely count as 'luxuries' this study seems to be a very bad omen for the tech industry. We'll see just how true it proves to be as we get closer to Black Friday.

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Robert Evans
The excitement about new smartphones, tablets and anything mobile drive Robert to unearth the latest rumors and developments in this fast moving space. He adopted 4G as soon as it become available and knows where the mobile market is going.
Robert can be contacted directly at robert@i4u.com.