Blu-ray player sales jumped 53% during the week of Black Friday compared to the previous year, according to a study from The NPD Group’s Weekly Tracking Service industry source for actual point-of-sale data (POS).
That’s a very good number at anytime, but especially at a time when sales of other consumer electronics were way down, such as a 33% decline in camcorder sales a 26% drop in notebook computers and a 22% drop in LCD TVs.
No doubt contributing to the increased Blu-ray player sales was Wal-Mart selling players for as low as $78.
Computer sales fared even better, up 63%, spurred by new operating systems, new form factors, and new low price levels.
Overall revenue for the week of Black Friday down another 1.2% from 2008, when it was down 3.4%.
“What made Black Friday different this year is how aggressive those price cuts were.,” said Stephen Baker, NPD’s vice president of industry analysis. The average selling price of a flat-panel TV fell to $535, which is down more than 20% from 2008 and almost $200 from 2007. Unit volume sales surged by 15% but the high level of discounting drove revenues down by 9%.