Tech workers and their employers agree online shopping on company time will be prevalent this holiday and that it will sap productivity on the job, two Robert Half Technology surveys found. The tech staffing firm canvassed 2,800 employees and found 52 percent admitted to plans for “workshopping” this holiday on a company computer, it said Wednesday. Of those, 44 percent admitted the practice will hinder their productivity during normal work hours, it said. Robert Half also polled 2,800 tech company “decision makers” in 28 U.S. markets and found 77 percent acknowledging workshopping goes on under their watch, with 52 percent saying they wish it would stop. Cybersecurity risks (59 percent) and loss of productivity (34 percent) were cited as the top workshopping “concerns” among tech managers. Other findings: (1) More men (58 percent) than women (48 percent) plan to shop online from work this holiday; (2) Workshopping is more prevalent among working parents (62 percent) than among employees without children (39 percent); (3) Half of all workshoppers said they will spend between 30 and 60 minutes a week shopping on the job this holiday, and 20 percent will engage in the practice for more than an hour a week.

That “tech topics” will be “front and center” in the U.S. elections is one of 10 “trends to watch” for 2020, reported CompTIA Tuesday. “There are challenges posed as a result of tech’s larger impact on the economy and deeper integration with society,” and the 2020 U.S. election “cycle” will “put a spotlight” on many of these issues, it said. “Despite the overwhelming consumer and business benefits” that the information technology industry enables, CompTIA data shows seven of 10 firms in the business of selling technology “fear that a negative perception of the tech industry is gaining momentum across the country and becoming more of an issue in general,” it said. Increased worries over privacy “and how information is being collected and used could impact voters’ decisions,” it said. “Other issues might also join the discussion this election cycle, including cybersecurity, automation, artificial intelligence, net neutrality, and technology’s role in mitigating climate change.” CompTIA also predicts 2020 will be the year when “hype meets reality with emerging technology,” it said. “Even amid all the hype, companies in the business of technology are starting to pull back on adopting new technology as part of their portfolio,” it said. “This slight tap on the brakes suggests that classic situation where companies move too quickly into a new technology discipline or business model only to have a reality check in year two or three.”

Nearly 30 percent of U.S. consumers plans to spend less on electronics gifts this holiday season than last, said the Conference Board Thursday. Nielsen canvassed 5,000 homes in October as part of its monthly consumer confidence survey, and found 15.6 percent plan to spend more on electronics than in 2018 and 54.8 percent about the same. That compared with 10.4 percent who plan to spend more on gifts of all types this year. Consumers plan to spend on average about $675 on gifts this season, compared with last year’s estimated $627, but they expect to take advantage of “steep discounts,” the board said. “Consumers are gearing up for the holidays, with signs indicating they will not rein in their spending,” it said. “Consumer confidence is at historically strong levels, the job market remains solid, and the economy is in a record-breaking year of expansion. Retailers should expect strong demand this season.”

Forty-seven percent of TVs in use connect to a pay-TV providers’ set-top box, the first year since 2010 that set-top boxes have been connected to less than half of all TVs, reported Leichtman Research Group Tuesday. Three-quarters of U.S. TV households subscribe to a live pay-TV service, down from 84 percent in 2014 and 87 percent in 2009, but average monthly spending on pay TV, $109.60, is up 6 percent since 2016. Average spending on pay TV across all households, including nonsubscribers, is about $80 per month, slightly lower than in 2015, said LRG. Some 83 percent of adults 45 and over have a pay-TV service vs. 64 percent ages 18-44, it said; 27 percent of TV households have an over-the-air TV antenna, 53 percent for pay-TV nonsubscribers. Among all TV households, 54 percent have both pay-TV and a subscription video-on-demand service, 21 percent have only pay TV, 20 percent have SVOD only and 5 percent have neither, LRG said. “With more options for watching live and on-demand video, consumers are increasingly choosing to cobble together the services that meet the viewing and economic needs of their household,” said principal Bruce Leichtman. Survey results were based on a September-October poll of 1,115 adults ages 18 and older in the continental U.S.

Consumer intentions to buy new TV sets plunged in October from September, according to preliminary Conference Board data released Tuesday. Nielsen canvassed 5,000 U.S. homes through Oct. 18 and found 11.7 percent plan to buy a new TV set in the next six months, said the board. That was down from 12.5 percent in September, 13.8 percent in August and 12.8 percent in October 2018, it said. Consumer confidence declined in October for the third straight month, it said: “Consumers expressed some concerns about business conditions and job prospects.” Confidence levels nevertheless “remain high and there are no indications that consumers will curtail their holiday spending,” it said.

Tech spending for the 2019 Q4 holiday season is projected to slip 0.4 percent to $97.1 billion, CTA forecast Thursday, saying 186 million U.S. adults (74 percent) plan to buy a tech gift. The smart speaker category is expected to plummet 42 percent from 2018 to 11.3 million units, CTA said, citing more devices such as TVs integrating voice assistants. Streaming service subscriptions and videogames will be popular tech gifts, it said, with 71 percent of U.S. adults planning to buy a content-related gift this year, including videogame discs (43 percent) and streaming services (39 percent). New video streaming services, more 4K Ultra HD content and larger screens on TVs and smartphones are driving interest in entertainment as gifts, with laptops, smartphones, TVs, tablets and wearables expected to be leading category sellers, said Lesley Rohrbaugh, market research director. Some 59 percent of U.S. adults plan to buy a smart home product such as a smart doorbell, camera or lightbulb as a gift, and 38 percent of U.S. adults plan to buy a smart speaker. Forty-three percent of U.S. adults plan to buy a wearable: CTA expects more than 9 million smartwatches to sell this season, up 2 percent from 2018. Wireless earbuds are forecast to jump 45 percent year over year to 8 million units; of U.S. adults planning to buy headphones as a gift, most plan to buy wireless earbuds. Half of U.S. adults plan to buy videogame products (33 percent) and accessories this season. Some 87 percent of U.S. adult consumers plan to shop at brick-and-mortar stores for tech in the 2019 holiday season; 80 percent online, both up over 2018, CTA said. Among online shoppers, 65 percent plan to use a mobile device; 33 percent plan to shop using a voice assistant, it said.

BBC “continues to struggle to retain younger audiences,” and needs to take “significant further steps to engage” them, said Ofcon’s second annual report Thursday. Its youthful “reach” in the past year “continued to decrease across TV, radio and its main BBC online sites,” said the regulator. If younger demographics “don’t engage with the BBC, then public support for the licence fee in future could be eroded,” it said. That would “undermine” the BBC’s ability to fund content creation and procurement, posing a “significant risk” to its “future sustainability,” it said. The U.K. public service broadcaster welcomes Ofcom's "recognition that audience satisfaction remains high and that the BBC continues to deliver for British audiences by producing high quality, distinctive and creative content as well as the most trusted and accurate news," emailed a spokesperson. “BBC has a clear plan in place to meet the needs of younger and diverse audiences," and is "focused" on the BBC iPlayer, BBC Sounds and BBC News Online platforms, she said. "All three have grown strongly in the last year. So our plan is clearly working. But we want to do even more for young and diverse audiences and we will."

Apple Pay overtook the Starbucks app last year in users, the first time a generic mobile payment app became more popular than the coffee chain’s mobile app, said eMarketer Wednesday. Some 27.7 million Americans used Apple Pay last year to make a purchase; this year that number is expected to be 30.3 million, growing faster than expected and representing 47.3 percent of proximity mobile payment users, said the researcher. The Starbucks app will have 25.2 million users this year, 39.4 percent of users. Apple has benefited from the spread of new point-of-sale systems that work with the near-field communication signals Apple Pay runs on, said eMarketer analyst Yory Wurmser. Google Pay and Samsung should also benefit, but they will split the Android market, he said. The research firm cited Digital Trends data saying Apple Pay is expected to be available in 70 percent of U.S. retailers by year-end. Total spending via proximity mobile payments in the U.S. will approach $100 billion this year, with an average user spend of $1,545, up 24 percent from 2018.

NPD forecasts consumer tech sales will grow 2.4 percent this holiday, “as the market goes positive for the third straight year,” blogged Stephen Baker, vice president-industry adviser, technology and mobile. Consumers will continue to focus their shopping on the Thanksgiving-Black Friday weekend “instead of hitting the stores in early November or late December,” said Baker Monday. But promotional activity for that period is losing steam, he said: “Each year there are fewer big blockbuster sales opportunities (65-inch TVs are likely to be the biggest focus for the second year in a row) as retailers are selling the latest and greatest at more profitable price points and extending promotions into smaller, more manageable segments.” Baker predicts 65-inch sets will repeat as “the hottest holiday gift,” as average sales prices fall below $700, down nearly $100 from last year, he said.

September retail sales in electronics and appliance stores declined 1.7 percent year over year but were unchanged sequentially from August, reported the National Retail Federation Wednesday. Overall retail sales in September were down 0.1 percent from August but up 4.5 percent from September 2018, said NRF. “The pullback in September compared with August is possibly a reaction to increased fears over U.S.-China tensions,” it said. “While uncertainty around trade policy and other issues has dampened consumer sentiment recently, consumers still have a lot going for them as evidenced by longer-term trends and factors like the tight labor market.”