TechBargains (www.techbargains.com), a deal aggregation website for electronics products, released its 2011 Holiday Survey, revealing that despite the weak economy consumers are still buying large amounts of consumer electronics this season. And since tablets are among the hottest items, it looks to be a happy holiday for Apple, as well as Amazon.

At least a quarter of all consumers’ holiday gift budgets will be spent on consumer electronics with 52% of shoppers expecting to spend between US$250 to $500. More than 50% of men and women surveyed plan on spending half or more of their budget on electronics, completely unimpeded by the economic downturn.

Electronics products will consume a large portion of the holiday gift budget for men and women with 39% of women and 37% of men stating that they will spend half of their holiday budget on consumer electronics. However, while they're spending significantly, they're still carefully researching before they buy.

Sixty five percent of men value a recommendation from a friend as the single most important factor when deciding to purchase a product, while 73% of women said free shipping was their main priority. Both of these factors were most important to both sexes with 57% of women saying a recommendation was important and 62% of men saying free shipping was a deciding factor.

Kindle Fire, Nook Color, and buzz about the iPad 3 have convinced shoppers that tablets, over e-readers, are the most popular products of the season. Sixty-four percent of shoppers are planning to purchase a tablet in the next six months, even though they're more expensive then e-reader options. This shows that the lower prices of e-readers aren't affecting purchase plans for survey participants. 

According to the survey, 25% of current iPad owners will purchase a Kindle Fire in the next six months. The majority (88%) of those looking to replace the iPad with a Kindle Fire say they simply like buying the newest products. Interestingly, only 34% are planning to purchase an e-reader in the next six months and 76% of those who plan to purchase an e-reader will buy a Kindle Fire, while 9% will buy a Nook Color.

Thirty-five percent of shoppers who said they will purchase a tablet want to buy an iPad 2, while 32% want a Kindle Fire. Twenty-six percent of iPad owners plan to purchase an iPad2 in the next six months. The majority of shoppers (59%) planning to purchase a new tablet to replace their old one are doing so because they like purchasing the newest product.

-- Dennis Sellers