It is when retailers view and order the products that consumers will see in their stores for the next year.

"Many small retailers who normally buy one or two copies are ordering 50 because they have presold it to their customers."

If the trend continued, retailers would order fewer goods, leading to production cutbacks and layoffs at manufacturing plants.

Harry Potter products introduced a year ago did not sell well, so retailers ordered cautiously this year.

All told, retailers ordered nearly 110,000 copies.

The consumer has been a question mark, so retailers have ordered cautiously and have kept their inventories in shape.

But more than 100 American television stations quickly signed on, and retailers ordered more than 500,000 game cartridges.

Still wary of video game consoles from the crash, retailers did not order any systems.

European retailers and manufacturers are no longer ordering, but are waiting for better offers from China.

But most are known well enough so that retailers can order them.