As we approach the holiday season, a few interesting numbers to ponder:

Video game systems: Salt Lake City is the top local market for households owning a video game system with 32 percent penetration. Lexington, Kentucky and Toledo, Ohio follow closely behind at 30 percent. And Wal-Mart is the top retailer’s choice for SLC residents making a video game purchase.

Organic food consumers: Salt Lake City shares 16th place in the country with New York City; Greenville, South Carolina, and Tucson. San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland lead the country in market penetration for organic foods. At 20 percent, Salt Lake City ranks just above the national average of 17 percent.

eBay visitors: Salt Lake City is 17th in the nation with 34 percent penetration, just three percentage points above the national average. eBay visitors are among the Net’s biggest spenders and they are 16 percent more likely to be males in the 18-24 age demographic. Typically, they spend as much as $2,500 annually online. The South is the nation’s most active region for eBay visitors, led by Charleston, West Virginia; Lexington, Kentucky, and Memphis and Knoxville in Tennessee.

Gift Cards: Salt Lake City is 34th in the country with 49 percent of households having purchased prepaid gift cards in 2006. Leading the country at 57 percent penetration were Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Chicago. The 2006 figure for the country as a whole was 19 percent higher than the previous year. Last year, gift cards were purchased by 48 percent of household consumers throughout the nation. Gift cards – in which revenue cannot be counted until the cards are redeemed – are expected to be one of the few bright spots this holiday season where most industry analysts expect retail sales to increase by a less-than-modest 3 percent. Archstone Consulting expects consumers to spend more than $35 billion in gift cards this season, 25 percent more than last year. More than one-fourth of gift cards are purchased online.

The numbers are part of Scarborough Research’s ongoing consumer research studies measuring lifestyle, shopping, and media behavior patterns. The firm is based in New York City.