NPD expects historic holiday sales for this category

U.S. consumer tech sales, strong since March, show no signs of letting up anytime soon.

That’s according to The  NPD Group, whose Future of Tech report forecasts that consumer tech sales will grow a record 18% in the fourth quarter of 2020 over the year-ago period. The report noted that tech sales have been steadily rising since March when COVID-19 restrictions began in the U.S. In the months that followed, technology sales experienced double-digit year-over-year growth and this momentum is expected to continue. 

The second quarter of 2020 saw healthy gains in categories associated with learning and working from home, as consumers across the U.S. outfitted their home offices with the equipment needed to maintain productivity, according to NPD. Gains in home entertainment categories were notable as well. High growth categories included: notebook computers (+45%), tablets (37%), monitors (+84%), printers (+59%), and keyboards and mice (62%).

“Sales of items we need to get through the school or workday took priority in the first half of this year, but as we head into Q4 and the holidays we expect many of these ‘needs’ will have been satisfied and consumers will begin to purchase items they consider to be ‘wants’ or gifts for the holiday season, such as TVs and noise-canceling headphones,” said Ben Arnold, executive director, industry analyst for The NPD Group.

According to NPD Checkout data, buy-online-and-pick up-in- store purchases accounted for approximately a quarter of online technology sales in the second quarter.
 
“Black Friday lines won’t disappear but we expect lines of consumers waiting for store openings will be replaced by long queues of cars eagerly waiting for buy online, pickup curbside purchases to be placed in their vehicle,” said Stephen Baker, VP, industry advisor for The NPD Group.