The turkey is gone, the dishes are washed and the in-laws are on their way home -- it's the Friday after Thanksgiving, better known as "Black Friday" in the retail circuit because it's the day holiday shoppers swarm to stores like locusts in a plague.

But the season won't bring a plague to electronics stores, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The group found in a recent survey that 76 percent of U.S. consumers plan to buy at least one consumer electronics (CE) product as a gift during the holiday shopping season.

According to the results from CEA's 11th Annual Holiday Sales and Forecast survey, consumers plan to spend up to 3 percent more on the holidays this year, rising from 19 percent to 22 percent. With this increase, the group said, retailers should expect to see flourishing sales of digital cameras, DVD players, cordless phones, game systems, wireless phones, desktop computers, laptops and notebooks, portable MP3 players and HDTV.

"Year-after-year, consumer electronics products dominate holiday wish lists and all indications show that consumer electronics retailers are in for another strong holiday season," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA, in a statement. "The products produced by our industry truly are the gifts that keep on giving. They provide consumers 'anywhere/anytime' access to loved ones, music, movies, information and educational content as well as help increase our security."

The number one planned CE gift item for this year is the digital camera, displacing DVD players at the top of the "planned gift" list for the first time in years, CEA reported. Consumer interest in buying a digital camera increased five points from last year, from 24 percent to 29 percent. Meanwhile, overall interest in purchasing DVD players declined six points from last year, from 31 percent to 25 percent.

While digital cameras are the top planned gift list, the number one desired gift item this season is the plasma TV, with 9 percent of CE gift buyers planning to purchase one as a gift. Following the plasma TV, other desired gifts this holiday season include the digital camera, a notebook or laptop computer, a color TV 27-inches or larger and a portable MP3 player.

Best Buy, Fry's and Circuit City won't only see immediate purchases. CEA's survey further found that 30 percent of respondents said they would purchase a gift certificate from a CE retailer -- a number higher than the planned gift purchase of any individual CE category, the group said.

Overall, 24 percent of consumers believe the economy is better than it was last year, the survey found, a noticeable improvement from the 20 percent of consumers who felt that way last year.  On average, the typical U.S. household is expected to spend around $600 on gifts alone, for a total of more than $63 billion, CEA concluded.

By: DocMemory
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