Amazon, At Least, Had a Merry Christmas

One reason Amazon has survived as an enduring Internet brand is that during downturns it takes market share, and this holiday season looks like it will be no different. Amazon announced its 14th record holiday season, with 72.9 items ordered every second, up from 62.5 last year.

The day that orders peaked was on December 15th, when 6.3 million items were placed into Amazon’s checkout carts. That number was up 17 percent from the peak order day in 2007 (December 10). With five fewer shopping days this season, orders shipped peaked at 5.6 million on a single day, up 44 percent from last year. Some of the best-selling items this year included Eyeclops night vision stealth goggles, the Nintendo Wii, Razor scooters, Samsung 52-inch LCD HDTVs, The Dark Knight DVD, and the Twilight Saga books by Stephanie Meyer. Amazon says it was able to ship 99 percent of all holiday items in time for Christmas.

How does this year compare to seasons past? Barclays analyst Doug Anmuth provides the following comparisons:

Peak items ordered on a single day

2008: 6.3M
2007: 5.4M
2006: 4.0M
2005: 3.6M
2004: 3.6M

Items ordered per second

2008: 72.9
2007: 62.5
2006: 46.3
2005: 41
2004: 32

Peak items shipped on a single day

2008: 5.6M
2007: 3.9M
2006: 3.4M
2005: 2.7M
2004: 2M+

Original post

Comments

[The Good Ne...:]

Thanks Erick. Another great look at the shake-out happening in retail this year and Amazon's continued success.

The Barclays stats are what every business leader likes to see. No matter which series I plot, the trend is a very healthy "upwards and to the right."

It will be interesting to see how Amazon does today on the "Boxing Day Bonanza of 2008."

I did a short note on that at today:
goodnewseconomist.com

2008 Dec 26 03:45 PM

[Louie Junior:]

Amazon's press release is full of useless, subjective information. For you to buy into this type of non-financial hype is comical. This is exactly what the firm wants you to do.

You do realize they'd release the same"news" if their sales were up 1%, don't you?

You clearly haven't followed Amazon for verr long.

2008 Dec 26 09:19 PM

[john s. gordon:]

brick & mortar stores lose sales to online? tower records is already out of business. saves gasoline. UPS & Fedex make money. state sales tax receipts will suffer? state treasuries are in enough trouble already. will we have a federal sales tax on internet purchases? that would really upset things/
> jack

2008 Dec 27 08:19 AM