“When looking for the best performing category of 2007, don’t look any further than GPS,” Baker says. “While sales volumes were strong last year, it was more of an introduction for the category, than it was the establishment of a long-term opportunity. Sales this year appear to cement GPS as a long- term major player.”

GPS category growth this year was also impressive. Unit sales increased six- fold over last year. In fact, more GPS devices were sold this year, than PCs, 30-inch-and-larger LCD TVs, and plasma TVs.  Revenue increased 237 percent from last year, breaking the $100 million barrier, which pumped its rank to the sixth-largest category on a dollar-sales basis. Overall ASPs fell to under $200 from $322 last year.

Another category break-out performance was digital picture frames. Unit volume for Black Friday 2007 reached nearly 500,000 units and $30 million.

The Losers
For the second year in a row, more MP3 players were sold than any other product, but the year-long category sales slowdown was still felt during Black Friday. Unit-sales volume was up slightly (4 percent), which likely was driven by the success of recently introduced Apple iPod products.

Digital cameras have been a perennial staple of Black Friday advertising for many years. This year point-and-shoot Black Friday ASPs fell by 14 percent from 2006. Unit-volume growth in 2007 was just 11 percent; consequently, overall point and shoot revenues declined 5 percent against 2006.

“Despite the relatively poor overall results we remain optimistic about the holidays,” Baker says. “Given the position of many of the largest categories on the growth curve, it was inevitable that overall volume growth rates would decline; however, a continuation of the more benign pricing environment noted on Black Friday should make for a reasonable, but not spectacular, holiday selling season.”

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