Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Bruce A Thompson]

Dec 29, 2003- Amazon.com Wraps Up Its Ninth Holiday With Busiest Season Ever. Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) today announced it has finished its busiest holiday season ever during which time it set a single-day record with more than 2.1 million units ordered, or 24 items per second, worldwide.

"Offering more selection than ever and low prices helped our customers find exactly what they were looking for at Amazon.com this holiday season," said Jeff Wilke, Amazon.com senior vice president of worldwide operations and customer service. "We're thankful to the millions of customers worldwide who trusted us with their holiday shopping this year."

Worldwide 2003 Holiday Facts

(includes www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.co.jp and www.amazon.ca)

-- On the peak day this season, Amazon's worldwide fulfillment network shipped over one million packages.

-- More than 70,000 gift certificates were ordered worldwide on December 24, 2003, for delivery via email in time for Christmas.

-- Amazon.com shipped more than 99 percent of orders in time to meet holiday deadlines worldwide.

Amazon.com 2003 Holiday Facts (www.amazon.com only)

-- Compared to 2002, later free shipping deadlines gave customers four additional days of Free Super Saver Shipping this holiday season. Deadlines were also extended for Holiday Guaranteed Shipping, Two-Day Shipping and One-Day Shipping by one extra day (compared to 2002).

-- The last order placed in time for Christmas delivery occurred at 11:32 a.m. PST on Tuesday, December 23, 2003. The order contained the perennial Christmas favorite Forensic Pathology, Second Edition. The order was delivered to Vail, Colorado on December 24.

-- The "Holiday Shoppers" feature, which tracked the estimated number of visitors at Amazon.com during the prior 60 minutes, topped 630,000 on Monday, Dec. 15.

Amazon.com's hot holiday sellers since November 28, 2003 (based on units ordered):

-- In Sporting Goods, pedometers were a popular gift item this year, with the Sportline 360 Fitness Pedometer taking the top spot. Scooters, personalized golf balls and snow boards were also very popular. The Photon Golf Digital Scorecard and the Pro Performance Sports Hit-A-Way Baseball Trainer were two of the more interesting best-selling items in the store.

-- In Gourmet Food, Harry & David's Tower of Treats, Ghirardelli chocolates, Omaha Steaks' Top Sirloin, and a veritable cornucopia of gift baskets were some of the most popular items ordered for the holidays. An interesting top-seller in this category was the Fireworks Popcorn Bowl Gift Set sold by Wisconsinmade (an 11" wood bowl with four varieties of popcorn, seasonings and two "popcorn forks").

-- In Electronics & Office, digital cameras are again the most popular items driven by higher resolution and better lenses available for even lower prices than last year; the top-seller was the Canon Powershot S230. Wireless equipment is also very popular with both wireless routers and wireless cell phone headsets among the top-selling items. Netgear's MR814 802.11b Wireless 4-port cable/DSL router, the Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router and Jabra's FreeSpeak Bluetooth Headset took top honors.

-- In Home & Garden, the ever-popular shaver gift goes upscale this year (Norelco's 8894XL Spectra -- James Bond's Shaver of Choice -- with Polymer Display). The iRobot Roomba robotic vacuum was also a top-seller. Calphalon Commercial cookware, the venerable Kitchenaid Classic Stand Mixer, and the Casa Moda "S'mores" Maker all made the list. The tool to have this year was the Strait-Line 64001 Laser Level.

-- The musical gamut of top-sellers ran from Sarah McLachlan's Afterglow, to The Beatles' Let it Be...Naked, and Josh Groban's Closer.

-- Video/DVD sales were dominated by the big-name movie series (new and old). Two Lord of the Rings -- The Two Towers gift sets, The Matrix Reloaded, Terminator 3, and The Adventures of Indiana Jones set were all in the top 10.

-- The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown), South Beach Diet (Dr. Arthur Agatston), and The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom) were the top-selling books this holiday season


http://www.infohq.com/Computer/computer-news-dec03-23-31.htm