Macs are Amazon's 'Most Wished For'
But some people may not be getting the computers they hoped for this holiday season
Image: Amazon.com
On the eve of Cyber Monday, Apple (AAPL) Macs held the top three spots on Amazon's (AMZN) "Most Wished For" laptop list, as well as the top four spots on the desktop computer wish list.
But wishes are not horses — or premium-priced Macs — and judging from Amazon's "Most Gifted" lists, some of those Christmas wishes might be filled by more affordable Microsoft (MSFT) Windows machines.
On the laptop "Most Gifted" list, the top two spots Sunday morning went to a $549.99 Toshiba Satellite and $418.98 Acer Aspire, respectively. The $1,199 MacBook Pro had been pushed to No. 3.
On the desktop computer "Most Gifted" list, three of the top four were still Macs, but a Hewlett Packard (HPQ) Compaq had moved into the No. 2 spot.
On Amazon's "Bestseller" lists — a broader measure of what's being purchased on America's largest online retail store — no Macs topped either list Sunday morning. But four Macs were among the top 10 bestsellers for both laptops and desktops.
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]
Apple was 5th busiest retail site on Cyber Monday
Apple.com was the exception in comScore's report on retail sales for Cyber Monday 2008, the biggest online shopping day in a year marked by global financial meltdown.
While its competitors were offering deep discounts to pull in recession-battered customers, Apple (AAPL) had already ended its Black Friday sale and by Monday was back to charging its usual premium prices for laptops, desktops and MP3 players.
Yet its online store still managed to grab the No. 5 spot in comScore's ranking of the top 20 most visited retail sites on Monday Dec. 1, handily beating not only Dell (DELL) and Hewlett Packard (HPQ), but such full-fledged retail outlets as Best Buy (BBY), Toys "R" Us and Circuit City (CC).
Apple.com drew nearly 3.7 million visitors that day, up 43% from November's somewhat depressed average. The big winner for Cyber Monday was eBay (EBAY), with nearly 13 million visitors, followed by Amazon (AMZN; 9.2 million), Wal-Mart (WMT; 6.7 million) and Target (TGT; 4.8 million).
Overall, according to comScore, online spending was up 15% from 2007, driven by a 22% increase in the number of buyers. But those buyers made 9% fewer purchases than last year, and they spent 5% less.
Below the fold: comScore's top 20 chart, its breakdown of e-commerce spending and, perhaps most usefully for tight-fisted shoppers, its ranking of the top 10 comparison shopping sites, in which Shopzilla.com was the big winner. More
