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grown-up Christmas wish list this year is sure to be glowing — glowing from the light of LEDs, to be more precise, as more and more people want to see the latest gadgets filling their stockings.

High up on the list of must-haves are tablet computers and smartphones, several of which were launched with a bang in the months leading up to the holiday season.

Lisa, a sales attendant at a gadget shop in Plaza Indonesia, an up-market mall in Central Jakarta, said sales surged up to 300 percent in December.

“The rise started around the beginning of the month and applies to tablet computers and their accessories,” she said.

The most popular tablets at the shop — which carries including Samsung and Asus products, but not Apple’s iPad — were the Samsung Galaxy Tab series, including its 10.1, 8.9, 7 Plus and Note versions.

“We have even prepared special gift packages for the Galaxy Tab,” she said, adding that customers quickly bought out the store’s stock of special packages a week ago.

The packages were designed to entice customers with steep discounts. For about Rp 100,000 (US$11.10) over a tablet’s retail price, consumers could get their hands on a tablet computer, plus sought-after accessories such as leather cases and additional chargers that, if sold individually, would cost up to six times the premium.

“We even gave away modems for those who bought the Wi-Fi only versions of the tablets,” she said.

She added that the store offered cash back, shopping vouchers and zero-percent credit card installment payments for tablet purchases.

The offer boosted sales of the tablets, whose prices ranged from Rp 5.5 million to Rp 7 million, from an average of 50 units per month to 200 units.

Other, however, chose to buy the latest BlackBerry smartphone series, the Bellagio.

The smartphone, equipped with both a touchscreen and a QWERTY keypad, were on sale for around
Rp 4.6 million.

“Some people booked the product before Christmas. In previous months, sales were around 20 units but in December, sales could touch 100 units,” she added, further saying that sales for Apple’s iPhone did not show as big of a leap.

She further said the buyers were mainly men.

A report released by AC Nielsen this year said that 50 percent of male Internet users in Southeast Asia who did not own a smartphone said that they had intentions to buy a smartphone, as opposed to 41 percent of women surveyed.

Rudi Rusdiah, a representative of the Computer Entrepreneurs Association (Apkomindo), said that the sharp increase in gadget sales could be attributed to the massive promotions brands have undertaken.

The promotions have enticed people to spend money on the high-tech gadgets.

“That’s the greatness of marketing. It causes consumers to behave emotionally instead of deciding rationally,” he said, adding that the advertisements revolved around the theme of lifestyle.

“[Gadget makers] are currently are targeting more toward our young consumers,” he said.

Several studies have reached same findings - the under 30-year-old segment is comprised of the most avid Internet consumers who go online mainly via smartphones for entertainment and information purposes.

Gadget sellers are not the only ones reaping profits during the holiday season.

Fashion brands catering the middle and upper class are enjoying significant leaps in sales as well.

“December is, in fact, the month with the highest sales record,” Fetty Kwartati, spokesperson for fashion holding company PT Mitra Adi Perkasa, said.

While declining to discuss exact figures, Fetty described the sales increase as “significant”.

A rise in sales has been experienced by almost all of the 100 or so brands under the company, including Zara, Swatch and Massimo Duti, as well as department stores such as Topshop, Topman and
Seibu, Fetty said.

“All have experienced similar things. Every brand has come up with a specific events,” Fetty said, including discounts, buy-one-get-one offers and shopping vouchers.

She added that December was a profitable month for the company because of the two holidays - Christmas and New Year’s Day - lumped together in the month.

“There were not a lot of festivities in October and November, given that Lebaran has passed,” Fetty told The Jakarta Post.

Lebaran, an Islamic festival, fell in August this year. Fetty added that sales this December were even higher than last year, which said gave insight into consumer behavior in Indonesia.

“Through this, we can see that the Indonesians are the ones driving local consumption,” she said.

Fetty added that, since the brands targeted the middle and upper crust, the increase in sales reflected the robust purchasing power of the middle class.

“We can see that the middle class segment is strong and growing fast,” she noted.

Rudi also pointed out that the “purchasing power of the middle class is drastically increasing” as mirrored by the surge in gadget sales.

Another recent study by AC Nielsen said that middle-class consumers, after allocating their money for basic and family needs and for vacations, spent their money on buying the latest gadgets (28 percent), followed by investments in stock markets or mutual funds (27 percent) and house renovations in addition to purchasing new clothes (18 percent).

According to Nielsen, middle-class households are those that spend Rp 1 million to Rp 2 million per month for basic needs, including food, transportation and electricity.

Up to 48 percent of Indonesia’s population of 240 million people falls within this category.