Electronics Were Most Wanted Items on Black Friday

I skipped shopping on Black Friday this year, but it seems a lot of Americans didn't. According to ComScore, shoppers spent $272 million online on Thanksgiving Day and $531 million on Black Friday; that's apparently a 20 percent increase from last year.

Electronics were a big hit this weekend according to online retailers who saw an increase in sales of video games and consoles, music players, GPS systems, digital cameras, and software. The Wii continues to be this year's must-have gaming console, while the Guitar Hero III video game is still very much in demand for the holidays. Microsoft's Zune music player was the second most popular gadget online, thanks to the shortage on the new 80GB Zune player and the deep discounts on the 30GB Zune model. One brick-and-mortar retailer was actually advertising Zune players for $80 this weekend to lure customers to stores.

When it comes to GPS systems, the most popular models were the Garmin StreetPilot c550 and TomTom One, followed by the Magellan Maestro 3100 GPS. PriceGrabber's top-selling products included Canon digital cameras, Western Digital 500 external hard drive, and Microsoft's Office 2004 Student and Teacher edition.

Cyber Monday sales weren't too shabby either. The Los Angeles Times reports that Americans spent $700 million on Monday as consumers took advantage of online deals. Yahoo! Shopping director Fiona Waslander reports the most-searched for items on Cyber Monday were the iPhone, the Sharp Aquos 46-inch plasma TV, and the Nintendo Onyx DS Lite.

Seems to me a good majority of folks will be seeing electronics under the tree this Christmas, which reminds me of an earlier survey that said most Americans want computers and big-screen televisons as gifts.

Did you find any great deals on Black Friday or Cyber Monday?

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