Dive Brief:
- This holiday season, a whopping 76% of sales will be generated by a mere 1% of product SKUs including electronics (60%) and gift cards (10%), according to Adobe’s Online Shopping Prediction.
- The most talked about gift items poised to ring up sales include the Star Wars BB-8 droid toy, the Apple Watch, Sony’s PlayStation 4, and Minecraft and Halo 5 video games.
- In kids' toys, the Star Wars’ BB-8 droid is leading social media buzz, an early indicator of popular holiday gifts. Apple tops the wearable, streaming hardware, and tablet categories, and Sony’s PlayStation 4 is the most talked about game console, while Minecraft and Halo 5 are neck-in-neck in top video game buzz.
Dive Insight:
It comes as little surprise that consumer electronics dominates holiday gift purchases: The category has long been a holiday gift staple, as TVs to tablets are the centerpiece of retailers’ Black Friday doorbusters. But in recent years, digital innovation, such as wearable technology, has injected new life into the category.
At the same time, gift cards have been the top selling holiday item for nearly a decade, according to the National Retail Federation.
Adobe's forecast reflects an analysis of 55 million product SKUs and aggregated and anonymous data of more than one trillion visits to 4,500 retail websites.
