Want to get an extra early jump on this year’s holiday must-haves? Take an exclusive look at what products Google says are already burning up the Internet 14 weeks before Christmas.
CNNMoney reports that Google’s trends spotting tool — “Insight for search” — which debuted in 2008, allows anyone to get a broad overview or a detailed snapshot of the most frequent searches in 27 categories nationwide or worldwide in a given point in time.
Google’s trendspotters have already zeroed in on huge search spikes for a few products that could become this year’s holiday favorites.
In toys, rising searches for Hasbro’s Nerf Stampede are up over 1,700% over the past 30 days. Hasbro unveiled its Nerf N-Strike Stampede Blaster for sale earlier this month, which is the toymaker’s latest version of its popular Nerf dart blasters.
Searches for rival toymaker Mattel’s Sing-a-Ma-Jigs have doubled since July. These are a set of four colorful small plush toys that sing when you press their tummies. They also harmonize their voices with you press all of them together.
Not all of Google’s hot trends are product related, however, said Daniel Schock, Google’s director of retail industry.
Schock said Google’s data points to holiday shoppers being even more thrifty this year with their gift-buying budgets.
And with one out of five consumers expected to have a smartphone in hand while hitting stores in the coming weeks, Schock said mobile devices will become indispensable shopping aid this year.
Photo by Mattel.