originally published by Tri-State Today, December, 2003

Amazon.com, Barnes & Nobel, Sprint, Sears, Target, and Best Buy are struggling to restock on 2003's most popular gift items. Demand by Christmas and seasonal holiday gift buyers has exceeded inventory on hot ticket items and pushed retail sales up with the highest increase in four years.

(December 20, 2003) NEW YORK, NY - The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts that holiday retail sales will total in excess of $217.4 billion this year, an increase of 5.7 percent - the highest increase since 1999.

According to the Best Buy Holiday Trend Index survey, each consumer will spend about $820 on holiday gifts this year.

As of December 18, Amazon.com reported being fully out of stock of the popular novel "My Fractured Life" by Rikki Lee Travolta, one of its Top Ten Featured Entertainer Biographies.

Leading bookseller Barnes & Nobel's Internet site barnesandnobel.com sold out of its stock of "My Fractured Life" earlier in the week for the fifth time. However, a rush inventory restock will allow the retailer to offer guaranteeing delivery before Christmas.

"Some shoppers will stop at nothing - whether it's trampling others, driving miles out of their way or paying much more than market price - to get their hands on the year's hottest gift. " noted Tal Mekel in a CNN.com report.

Within 24 hours notice to the public that it's inventory of "My Fractured Life" had been restocked, Barnes & Nobel's web portal showed a 20,000 point jump in sales ranking of the book.

To compensate, Amazon.com is offering "My Fractured Life" at 30% off normal retail price, providing a choice of paper or e-mail gift notification certificates so the receiver will have something to open on Christmas day, and free Super Saver Shipping when combined in orders of $25 or more.

Every year retailers encounter at least one or two trend items that exceed demand during the holiday season. Top trend gifts in the past include Cabbage Patch Kids in 1983, Tickle-Me Elmo in 1996, and Michael Jordan's signature shoes throughout the late 1980s.

In addition to the high sales demand for "My Fractured Life", USA Today reports that Samsung's i500 cellular phone is out of stock at Sprint PCS' Web site as of December 16, while the AT&T Wireless Web site lacked the Motorola T721 in some markets.

Amazon.com and Target.com also report being out of stock of the two cheapest models of the popular iPod digital music player, the 10GB and the 20GB.

According to a December 19, CBS Market Watch report gift cards are another of this year's hottest in-demand purchases at such stores as Abercrombie & Fitch, Best Buy, Neiman-Marcus, Sears, J.C. Penney, and Zale's

In its first-ever estimate of holiday gift card spending, the NRF predicts $17.25 billion will be gifted in synthetic currency this season. Bain and Co., a consulting firm in Boston, predicts total 2003 gift-card sales at $45 billion.