More holiday shoppers are buying gifts based on color

— -- It doesn't really matter that Margie Leigh's granddaughter, Laura, got the pink iPod she so desperately wanted last Christmas — at age 4. For the now-5-year-old, pink is out this holiday, and purple is in.

Grandma in Kentucky will be buying her granddaughter in Virginia a purple iPod this Christmas for one reason — its color.

"I know it sounds crazy," says Leigh, who is retired. "But that's what she wants."

In the most economically depressing holiday season in decades, there's one buzzword — besides cheap — that's still got game at retail: color.

That's right. Bleak 2008 also happens to be the holiday season when shoppers want many of their gifts to be colorful. Or at least, a different color from last year's model. And not necessarily apparel: products such as electronics, appliances, kitchen décor, even luggage and their tags. IPods now come in a gazillion colors; so do cellphones and digital cameras. Ditto for laptops and home computers. Color is gaining traction for small appliances, such as blenders and popcorn poppers — and big ones, such as ranges.

"Color is the one area where consumers are saying, 'I'm going to indulge,' " says Marshal Cohen, retail guru at NPD Group. When Cohen advised retail clients about the 2008 holiday, his No. 1 suggestion for most was to expand color selection. Some are adding color and nothing else. Cohen says that's OK: "When you add color to a product, you stimulate the consumer's awareness that the version they already have is obsolete."

Color consultants aren't surprised.

While in a bleak economy, some companies and consumers are more somber in their choices — but a lot go the other way and embrace color. "People form a personal connection to a product in a color they like," says Jill Morton, head color consultant at Colorcom. This can be particularly critical, she says, "in times of doom and gloom."

Even in an atmosphere of lost jobs and dwindling 401(k) savings — or maybe because of it — vibrant colors symbolically and psychologically "speak to change," says color consultant Leatrice Eiseman.

Dude, it's a (lavender) Dell

It would be tough to find a company approaching this holiday with more new color choices than Dell.