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NEW YORK - CE sellers are gearing up for a merry holiday season following last year's disappointing Christmas and a constrained first quarter.
According to merchants queried by TWICE, severe weather, a shorter selling season, and inventory tightness contributed to a winter of discontent for dealers and vendors. And while no one knows what Mother Nature will bring in Q4, dealers are encouraged by a recovering economy and housing market, popular price points for Ultra HD TV, and a consumer that's bursting at the purse strings with pent-up demand.
To get a read on what's hot and what's not for Christmas 2014, we've assembled the following virtual roundtable of retailers and buying group execs who shared some pre-holiday cheer.
Industry & Macro Trends Bode Well For Holiday
TWICE: What's your outlook for Holiday 2014? Will consumers loosen their purse strings for Christmas?
Dan Pidgeon, Starpower: We had a big miss last year due to weather, the sluggish recovery, healthcare concerns and the shorter selling season. People held back and abandoned shopping because there were concerns, and too many reasons not to buy.
But we won't have most of those challenges this time. Now that we've shifted away from the unknowns and are getting some innovative products out, I think it will be an extremely good holiday season. You can't control the weather, and we're not growing at the levels we had hoped to so far, but the indicators are very positive and we're pretty bullish on Q4. The consumer is comfortable with where they are and has a willingness to spend. There's enough pent-up demand, and based on housing starts and home sales, we can all look forward to the fall. We're already seeing an uptick from the housing industry.
Mike Abt, Abt Electronics: It feels better; the economy is better and our business is better than last year. TV is not as bad as it's been, and appliances are working really well for us.
Actually the economy has been fine for our customer, who falls within the luxury mass market. We're hopeful it will be a good season.
Rick Souder, Crutchfield: The underlying trends have been the same for quite some time: The categories that are seeing strength, like audio, will continue to grow,...