Rebecca Day

Despite a rental price hike last December and “managing inventory well,” Redbox “misjudged demand” in video rental business from its DVD kiosks, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said Tuesday. The company's stock fell 24.1 percent Tuesday to $44.04. Redbox parent Outerwall cut its outlook Monday amid a Redbox management change, the company said in an SEC 8-K filing. Amazon and Apple “have cannibalized a large portion of Redbox traffic from its convenience-oriented customers,” Pachter said. He expects Redbox core value-conscious customers to “remain loyal so long as there is a significant price differential between Redbox rentals and most on-demand offerings.” Outerwall attributed the lower guidance to heavier promotional spending and additional content purchases designed to “encourage consumers to return to normal rental patterns,” the filing said. Since content was already purchased, “there was less opportunity to offset the lower revenue,” it said. Redbox business continues to be challenged by “the historically low box office during the third quarter, which was the worst theatrical box office in Redbox kiosks in four years,” it said.

TV viewers “have it made” in choices, said Joan FitzGerald, comScore senior vice president-television/cross-media services, at The TV of Tomorrow conference in New York Thursday. Moderating a panel, FitzGerald cited the many options consumers have for watching content on TVs, PCs and mobile devices, while “yesteryear” measurement tools and monetization fall behind.

It wasn’t just Cyber Monday that broke sales records this holiday season (see 1512020033), comScore said. The day leading into Cyber Monday was the first billion-dollar online shopping Sunday, while Saturday e-commerce sales topped $1 billion for the second consecutive year. Some 107.8 million U.S. online shoppers visited e-commerce sites Cyber Monday using a desktop computer, smartphone or tablet, a 23 percent increase from 2014, comScore said. Amazon had the most visitors, followed by Walmart, eBay, Target and Best Buy, comScore said in a news release Wednesday. "Some web sites experienced unfortunate server problems on Cyber Monday that appear to have been caused by heavy mobile traffic,” comScore Chairman Emeritus Gian Fulgoni said. Shutterfly and Target were two of the retailers suffering setbacks and outages Monday. Target attributed “delayed access” to traffic overload. And Discover said 73 percent of millennials plan to shop on a mobile device this holiday season, vs. 32 percent of nonmillennials. Thirty-six percent of millennials surveyed use mobile wallet technology, and 80 percent of those plan to use it for holiday shopping, compared with 69 percent of nonmillennial mobile wallet users, it said. The survey was conducted among 1,508 U.S. adults Oct. 30-Nov. 2.

As the winter holidays draw nearer, online and mobile shopping continues to rise (see 1511300029) from a year ago, various companies reported this week. Cyber Monday receipts were $3.07 billion, Adobe said. Of the 16 percent year-over-year sales increase, 26 percent ($799 million) came from mobile devices, it said. Apple devices generated $575 million of mobile purchases, and $219 million came from Android smartphones and tablets, it said. Display ads drove 57 percent more sales than in 2014, Adobe said. Social media-driven sales grew 33 percent, with a “major spike” at 6 p.m. Eastern corresponding to the time when many consumers got home from work and logged in to social networking sites, it said. Amazon edged eBay for the most retailer social mentions. At Walmart, nearly half of orders placed on Walmart.com since Thanksgiving were via mobile devices, double the number in 2014, Walmart CEO Fernando Madeira said. Mobile established itself as the “dominant shopping trend” for traffic and sales, Madeira said, with mobile traffic up 70 percent over last year. Madeira noted a shift this year from customers using mobile devices primarily just for searching and browsing to making purchases “at a much higher rate.” Amazon reported a record weekend for its devices that outsold by three times the devices sold last year during Black Friday weekend, it said.

Surveys of online and technology shoppers show that tech spending is strong overall, with many using mobile devices and computers to place orders, said various research released this week. Roughly 57 million U.S. adults shopped for technology during the Monday-Monday period of Black Friday Week, said Consumer Technology Association Senior Director-Research Shawn DuBravac on a media call. Nearly one in four U.S. adults shopped for technology during the week, allocating about half of their total shopping budget -- about $160 average -- to tech gifts, said DuBravac.

Total 2015 U.S. online holiday spending will grow 14 percent to $70 billion this holiday season, said a report released Wednesday by comScore. Some $11.7 billion of e-commerce sales will be fueled by mobile shopping, up 47 percent from 2014, said comScore. The pace is slightly off last year’s 15 percent growth rate for mobile shopping while spending via desktop PCs is forecast to hit $58.3 billion, said comScore. Overall digital commerce is expected to account for roughly 15 percent of consumers’ discretionary spending this holiday season.

Warning of an uptick in cyberscams during the holiday season, Intel issued alerts in a blog post last week by Gary Davis, Intel Security chief consumer security evangelist. In addition to website and email security problems, he said cybercriminals can leverage weaknesses in Bluetooth to steal data. Some devices use default pairing passwords for Bluetooth, such as 0000 or 1234, allowing cybercriminals to pair and gain access to a device. Cybercriminals accessing a person’s user name and email address may use the data to launch spear-phishing attacks in which they pose as a familiar entity to try to steal sensitive data -- or even identities, Davis said. Using common Bluetooth passwords can make it easier for a criminal to pair with and gain access to a device, he said Thursday.

For now, the wearables market will remain “highly fragmented,” Fossil Chief Strategy Officer Greg McKelvey emailed us. Activity trackers, smartwatches and smarter watches “are each playing a part in satisfying the highly variable wants, needs, and personal styles of today’s connected consumer,” he said. Fossil said earlier this month it’s buying the wearables platform company Misfit for $260 million (see 1511130053). The platform that powers Misfit’s products will be “behind the scenes” when integrated into connected devices for other Fossil brands, McKelvey said.

As online holiday deals for tech products heat up, many Americans are expected to buy such gear during Black Friday Week starting next Monday and lasting through Cyber Monday a week later. The Consumer Technology Association expects 91 million Americans plan to buy tech or tech accessories during Black Friday Week, as more consumers shop online and via mobile devices during the Thanksgiving week, CTA said. Some 37 percent of U.S. adults plan to buy technology products during Black Friday shopping week, and videogame consoles rank at the top of the list (31 percent), up from fifth place last year, CTA said Wednesday. TVs hold the second spot again in 2015 at 26 percent; tablets (24 percent), slipped to third from No. 1 in 2013 and 2014; laptops (24 percent); smartphones (22 percent); and in last place after other items are smartwatches (4 percent). Amazon jumped the gun on Black Friday week, announcing eight days of holiday deals that begin Friday. Shoring up its mobile business, Amazon will introduce deals available only through the Amazon Mobile Shopping App for Android, iOS and Fire OS. Total holiday sales from Amazon’s mobile shopping app doubled in the U.S. last year, led by Black Friday, the company said.

About 65 percent of U.S. adults plan to buy technology gifts this season, said Consumer Technology Association Senior Director-Research Shawn DuBravac at the annual holiday sales and year-end analysis during CES Unveiled in New York Tuesday. CTA expects tech holiday spending to rise 2.3 percent in 2015 to $34.21 billion, DuBravac told us. That's slightly off last year’s 2.5 percent growth rate. Within the electronics retail segment, online sales are expected to grow 14 percent this holiday season, compared with 16 percent last year, while mobile sales will see the biggest growth rise, from 25 percent last year to 35 percent this year, said DuBravac. Fifty-seven percent of respondents planned to use mobile devices for research, and CTA estimates mobile sales will be 18 percent of online sales. Mature categories generating more than half of the annual shipment volume in consumer electronics in 2015 include smartphones ($54 billion), tablets ($22.6 billion), laptops ($17.8 billion) and desktop PCs ($6 billion), said DuBravac. He said the association expects emerging categories like drones, smart home devices and smartwatches to become a bigger part of holiday sales in coming years.