Credit crunch beater: buy Xmas tech early

Buy your Christmas shopping early, if you haven't done so already, is the advice of price comparison site Kelkoo.

The Yahoo-owned company also claims that the biggest price drops for consumer tech buyers over the last year have been in speakers, mobile phones, flat-screen TVs, digital cameras and MP3 players.

Bruce Fair, UK MD of Kelkoo, told TechRadar that the site is seeing a notable increase in traffic much earlier this year, compared with past years. A clear indicator that people are planning their Christmas shopping ever earlier, in order to bag the tech bargains.

"RRPs will nearly always rise in the build up to Christmas as retailers face greater demand for must-have presents," said Fair. "If you are looking to buy gifts which you think will be popular or have previously been in high-demand, then you should always get in early and do plenty of research."

"The best place to research is online, as you will almost certainly get better value than on the high street, in fact our research shows that over 78 per cent of Brits will be doing their Christmas shop online, so be sure to get in early. Not only can getting your shopping in early save you money on the gifts themselves, but it helps spread the cost of Christmas over a longer period."

Xmas 08's top five tech

"We can already detect some of the gifts which will fly off the shelves this year," Fair told us. "The Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit remain staunch favourites and will again be popular as the nation looks to save money by entertaining and exercising at home. The RRP for the Wii is £179.99 but last year saw the price inflate to £300 from some retailers as demand soared. The Wii Fit is similar and has been up to 300 per cent of RRP when stock is exhausted."

So, unsurprisingly, yet again, the advice from the Kelkoo MD is - if you want Nintendo hardware this Christmas, get it now before it sells out. For the third Xmas in a row!

Cameras, TVs, toys

Kelkoo informs us that the Canon IXUS 80 IS 8.0MP Digital Camera is one of their most popular camera searches and "has fallen in value this year, which could mean a rise in demand as Christmas approaches… in February it was £250 on Kelkoo but it can now be bought for as little as £119.99."

If you haven't yet bought into the HD era, then perhaps this Christmas is the time to make the leap, with decent TVs such as the Samsung PS42A457P 42-inch HD Ready Plasma TV having now dropped "down from over £1,000 to just £529.99."

If you are buying toys for the younger relatives, then get them in quick, with Fair telling us that, "some high street retailers have already suggested they will have lower stock levels of toys this year, which will certainly increase demand and potentially price."

Kelkoo's top five tech price drops over the last year

Speakers - down 57 per cent on average
Logitech MM50 portable iPod Speakers - 70 per cent
November 2007: £119
November 2008: £35.99

Mobile phones - down 53 per cent on average
LG Viewty KU990 mobile handset - down 66 per cent
November 2007: £350
November 2008: £119.99

Flat-screen TVs - down 33 per cent on average
Philips 42PFL5522D - down 33 per cent
November 2007: £750
November 2008: £499

Digital Cameras - down 40 per cent on average
Canon Digital Ixus 960IS 12.1MP - down 31 per cent
November 2007: £360
November 2008: £248.88

MP3 Players - down 21 per cent on average
Apple iPod nano 8GB - down 18 per cent
November 2007: £125
November 2008: £102.79