Posted on: Sunday, June 20, 2004

Digital gadgets good gifts for dads

BY Lorrie Grant
USA Today

Buying for Dad year after year can become a challenge no matter how well you think that you know him, but technology is helping to ease things.

Retailers are pushing an array of portable and digital items this Father's Day to help shoppers avoid relegating Dad to socks, ties or shirts — again.

Sears even goes so far as to classify dads and designate gifts for them. There is plenty for the "gadget dad": DVD players and recorders, flat-screen TVs, MP3 players, personal digital assistants, software. The wide selection demonstrates a dependency on technology that is driving retail.

"Fathers today are sophisticated and surrounded with high-tech instrumentation that makes consumer-electronics retailers break out into a big grin," says Kurt Barnard of Retail Forecasting.

Those celebrating Father's Day won't be spoiling him too much, however. Givers plan to spend $8 billion, or an average of $86.19, according to the National Retail Federation. That is down from $99.65 last year.

"Consumers still appear a little cautious when it comes to discretionary spending. Father's Day spending could be reflecting the impact of higher gas prices and the situation in Iraq," says NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin.

The 14 percent decrease in average Father's Day spending is being driven by women shelling out less for presents. They expect to pay out $89.77 this Father's Day compared with $101.38 last year. Men, on the other hand, plan to increase their gift amounts to $82.19 from $70.89.

That won't hinder the sale of techie gifts. Reasons:

• Lower prices. Prices of many popular digital items have been dropping. Digital cameras and accessories, such as photo printers, and DVD players have gotten substantially less expensive — enough so to become commonplace in homes.

The average price of a DVD player in 1997, when they first came out, was $489, vs. about $100 today, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.

Even flat-screen TVs have moved down the scale to be more affordable.

• Innovation. Saws, drills and other traditional gifts have been kicked up a notch technologically, sparking demand for replacement tools.

"Consumers are buying more cordless, battery-powered tools and tools with integrated lasers, such as levels, circular saws and miter saws," says Chris Brathwaite of Sears.

• Excitement. In the past few years, several new big-boy toys have emerged as must-haves.

From large flat-screen televisions to MP3 players to fancier cell phones, fathers can play to their heart's content on their day.

"The old stuff — socks, shirts and ties — hasn't been good for 30 to 40 years. It's taken a while to come up with something cool for Dad," says Erik Gordon, marketing professor at Johns Hopkins University.

The push toward tech is also a response to younger dads who grew up with technology such as Game Boys.

That's not to say that shirt, tie and socks lovers will be left out. There's plenty for the "metrosexual dad," who is more particular about his appearance than Mom, and the "backyard dad" who's happier at the grill than the PC.