Black Friday and Cyber Monday saw a large surge in sales for many electronics firms, with Sony and Microsoft stating they saw a “big rise” in sales in the US during the traditional thanksgiving holiday.
Microsoft had a record week of sales for its Xbox 360 console and Kinect controller. But, it wasn’t only Sony and Microsoft that benefited; Nintendo announced on Monday that it too had record sales of its Wii and 3DS consoles.
Phil Molyneux, US president of Sony Electronic, told a media briefing in San Francisco that revenues were up 17 per cent compared to last year results and were up 21 per cent online from Black Friday to the Cyber Monday.
“The targets that we agreed with major retailers, we’ve pretty much blown all those away,” he said.
TV sales were among the strong performers over the weekend, especially sets above 55-inches, and Sony’s hi-def Blu-Ray players also sold well – although this was down to heavy discounting and bundling of the players.
Molyneux also commented on Sony’s tablets, saying they were meeting the companies expectations “in a cluttered market and with some very aggressive offers out there”.
Sony is currently suffering supply constraints for its popular NEX-7 digital camera due to factories being closed by the flooding in Thailand, he said: “We’re furiously working to transfer production back to Japan and into China, so I think we’ll see better availability going into January.”
Microsoft also issued a statement about the record sales it had seen with it Xbox 360, declaring they sold 960,000 consoles in the US alone, with more than 800,000 sold in a 24-hour period. They also managed to sell 750,000 Kinect controllers, many were sold as either bundles or standalone items as Amazon had been selling the Kinect controller at a third off.
The company expects the 360 to be the best-selling console in the US this year – a reasonable prediction as it has led the Wii and PlayStation 3 for ten straight months so far in 2010.
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