According to the NPD Groups report on the week of Black Friday - the Friday after Thanksgiving that ‘officially’ ushers in the holiday shopping season - retailers really don’t have a lot to be happy about.

“NPD claims that this year’s consumer technology retail sales grew by just 6 percent over 2006, less than one-half of last year’s growth rate. That’s the first time in the six years (tracked by NPD) that sales growth has dipped below the 10 percent mark.”

The winners? Media. LCD TVs were the big winners, pushing unit sales up 45% and revenues up 80%, mostly due to the massive amount of product change that has happened in the past year. Other big winners included notebook computers, digital cameras, and GPS devices.

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