Bestselling products from Amazon.ca this holiday season include The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring DVD, Yann Martel's Life of Pi, Shania Twain's CD Up! and the Pilates for Dummies video
SEATTLE—(CNW)—December 27, 2002—Leading online retailer Amazon.ca (www.amazon.ca) has wrapped up its first holiday season, serving customers from Toronto to Vancouver and as far away as Tuktoyaktuk.
Eager to spend more time with family this holiday season, customers worldwide enjoyed the convenience of online shopping, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as evidenced by the number of items ordered from Amazon sites around the globe. Amazon.com's holiday Delight-O-Meter tracked items ordered from all Amazon sites, including www.amazon.ca, and tallied more than 56 million items ordered this holiday season from November 1 to December 23.
"We'd like to thank all of the Canadians who shopped at Amazon.ca this holiday season," said Marven Krug, general manager of Amazon.ca. "Canadians embraced the convenience of online shopping this holiday and took advantage of Amazon.ca's vast selection of books, music, video and DVDs as well as our everyday low prices and free shipping."
2002 holiday facts from Amazon.ca:
- The last order shipped for Amazon.ca from third-party fulfillment provider Assured Logistics' warehouse in Mississauga, Ontario, was The Watcher's Guide, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer book by Christopher Golden, Keith R.A. DeCandido and Nancy Holder. The order, sent to Saint John, New Brunswick, was placed on Amazon.ca's site at 11:49 a.m. EST on Friday, December 20 and was delivered to the customer on Monday, December 23.
- Amazon.ca's online gift registry feature, Wish List, was a tremendous hit with Canadians this holiday season. From October 22 to December 18 more than 30,000 people created Amazon.ca Wish Lists and added more than 230,000 products to their lists.
- Customers took advantage of Amazon.ca's last-minute gift option, e-mail gift certificates. More than 1,200 of the gift certificates purchased from Amazon.ca were bought from December 18 to December 25. Customers purchased more than 3,000 gift certificates from November 1 to December 25.
- Amazon.ca exported Canadian products to destinations all over the world, including Australia, Malaysia, Peru, France, England, Germany, United Arab Emirates and more.
2002 bestselling holiday items by city from Amazon.ca:
While the nationwide favorites among Amazon.ca's more than 2 million books, CDs, videos and DVDs this holiday season include The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring DVD, Yann Martel's Life of Pi, Shania Twain's CD Up! and the video Pilates for Dummies, Amazon.ca uncovered some other interesting regional trends:
- Customers in Calgary showed their national pride this holiday: Books from Canadian authors were the most popular gifts with customers in Calgary this holiday season. The three bestselling books in Calgary were by Canadian authors, including Yann Martel's Life of Pi, Wil and Ian Ferguson's How to Be Canadian (Even If You Already Are One) and Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing. Amazon.ca also found that customers in Toronto enjoyed the classic Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham this holiday.
- HBO docudrama outsells sci-fi and fantasy DVD in Halifax: This holiday season customers in Halifax were more interested in giving the HBO docudrama Band of Brothers as a gift than the national top seller, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings. Additionally, more customers in Winnipeg purchased the DVD Original Transformers, Season 2, Part 1 DVD than The Lord of the Rings this holiday season.
- Canadian singing sensation Shania Twain is hands-down winner this holiday: Customers in Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Regina, Winnipeg and Vancouver overwhelmingly found Shania Twain's latest album, Up!, to be the music gift to give this holiday season. Customers in these cities also enjoyed Norah Jones's breakthrough album, Come Away with Me, while customers in Edmonton favored Elvis's Elvis 30 #1 Hits as the gift to give this holiday.
- Customers in Regina chose fun over fitness: While the Pilates for Dummies video was the No. 1 bestselling video on Amazon.ca this holiday, customers in Regina preferred the comedy Office Space. Additionally, customers in Vancouver preferred to give the video One Magic Christmas as a gift this holiday season.
About the Amazon.com Delight-O-Meter
The number of items worldwide was displayed on Amazon.com's Delight-O-Meter. The Delight-O-Meter tracked the approximate number of items ordered at Amazon.com domains worldwide, such as www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de and www.amazon.co.jp, as well as at cobranded domains such as www.borders.com and www.virginmega.co.jp. Items tracked by the Delight-O-Meter included items ordered at Amazon.com domains from third-party sellers, such as items ordered in the Toysrus.com and Target stores on Amazon.com and from Amazon Marketplace individual and business sellers, as well as Amazon.com-owned items ordered on non-Amazon.com domains, such as books ordered from Amazon.com's store at www.target.com. The Delight-O-Meter excluded certain items, including gift certificates, items ordered from mail catalogs, items not owned by Amazon.com ordered from non-Amazon.com domains (such as www.target.com), and items ordered through the cobranded Health & Beauty, Cars and Travel stores on Amazon.com. The Delight-O-Meter was not adjusted for items ordered that were subsequently cancelled or returned. The Delight-O-Meter debuted on November 12 with a count of over 8 million items ordered since November 1. The Delight-O-Meter was updated continually but lagged actual items ordered depending on the item. The Delight-O-Meter should not be viewed or used as a predictor or indicator of revenue or other financial information relating to Amazon.com.
About Amazon.ca
Amazon.ca (www.amazon.ca) is part of the global family of Amazon Web sites that have become known for great prices, selection and convenience. Amazon.ca customers can find and discover over 2 million English and French books, CDs, videos and DVDs--all at everyday low prices. Amazon.ca sources products directly from Canadian publishers and distributors, ensuring a rich offering of Canadian titles and content. Features such as original editorial reviews in English and French and product recommendations help Amazon.ca customers find the right products for them within the site's broad selection.
To ensure all orders are delivered to customers quickly and efficiently, Amazon.ca works with Canada Post, one of the world's most progressive postal companies. Orders placed at Amazon.ca are fulfilled and shipped from within Canada by Assured Logistics, a part of the Canada Post Group of Companies.
Through Amazon.ca Associates (www.amazon.ca/associates), third-party Web sites can link to Amazon.ca and earn referral fees on sales generated by those links.
Amazon.ca is the trading name of Amazon.com.ca, Inc., an affiliate of Amazon.com, Inc.