SEATTLE--Dec. 26, 2002--Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) today announced it has finished its busiest holiday season ever with more than 56 million items ordered worldwide from November 1 to December 23, 2002.
The largest sales day occurred on Monday, December 9, with 1.7 million units ordered, or 20 items per second worldwide. The second largest sales day, with 1.6 million units ordered, occurred on Wednesday, December 11, just a day before the holiday ordering deadline for Free Super Saver Shipping on Thursday, December 12.
"We're grateful to the many customers who trusted us for their holiday shopping needs," said Jeff Wilke, senior vice president, worldwide operations and customer service. "Holiday 2002 at Amazon.com featured the biggest selection we've ever had, including our new Apparel store, as well as the lowest prices ever, and we're going to continue offering great value to customers year-round."
Amazon.com's 2002 holiday facts:
The last holiday order was placed on the site shortly after 12:00 a.m. PST on Monday, December 23, 2002. The order contained the books The Fall of Berlin by Anthony Read and David Fisher and A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul, and the CDs Mozart: Requiem conducted by Sir Colin Davis and Chips from the Chocolate Fireball by the Dukes of Stratosphear. The order was delivered to Salt Lake City in time for the holiday.
From Buster Brown footed pajamas to diamond tennis bracelets, Amazon.com's Apparel & Accessories store was the fastest growing store ever launched at Amazon.com in terms of items sold in the first 45 days.
In-stock availability was at an all-time high this holiday season at www.amazon.com. More than 98 percent of Amazon.com's top-selling units ordered were available to ship within 24 hours.
Amazon.com shipped more than 99 percent of holiday orders to U.S. destinations in time to meet holiday deadlines.
Later free shipping deadlines gave procrastinating shoppers eight additional days of free shipping this holiday season.
Last year free shipping ended on December 4; this year with the Free Super Saver Shipping option, free shipping was extended to December 12.
This holiday season, more than 62,000 gift certificates were ordered worldwide on Tuesday, December 24, 2002.
Amazon.com's hot holiday sellers since November 1, 2002 (based on units ordered):
The Lord of the Rings reigns supreme over Amazon.com's Video and DVD stores: The box office smash leads the pack of holiday gifts most popular with Amazon.com customers this year. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was the top-selling video and DVD title this holiday season. Additionally, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was a top seller in Amazon.com's Video Games store. Another box office favorite, Star Wars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones, closely followed as a top seller in both Amazon.com's Video and DVD stores.
Wireless phones and DVD players continue to be the gift of choice this holiday: The hottest product in the Amazon.com Electronics store this holiday was the Toshiba SD2805 5-Disc Carousel DVD and CD player. Also popular were digital cameras, handhelds, and wireless networking products. Additionally, the Samsung S105 Phone, Sony Ericsson T68i Phone, and Handspring Treo 300 Phone were top sellers in Amazon.com's Cell Phones and Service store.
Classic music standards strike a chord with Amazon.com Music customers: Norah Jones' Come Away with Me, Rod Stewart's It Had to Be You...The Great American Songbook and Tony Bennett and k.d. lang's A Wonderful World all featured retro songs from famous singers of the past and were hits this holiday with Amazon.com's Music customers. Additionally, best-of compilation albums such as U2's The Best of 1990-2000 (deluxe limited edition with bonus DVD), Elton John's Greatest Hits 1970-2002 (limited edition) and the Rolling Stones' Forty Licks were top sellers in music.
Customers attracted to values in Amazon.com's Kitchen and Housewares store this holiday: At $29.99, the Calphalon commercial hard anodized 2-1/2 quart saucepan was one of the most popular items in Amazon.com's Kitchen and Housewares store. Customers also equipped their kitchens with KitchenAid's artisan 5-quart stand mixer (available in 15 different colors), Metrokane's rabbit corkscrew, and Sabatier's ChefStar 14-piece knife block set.
Popular authors remained top sellers with Amazon.com customers: James Patterson's Four Blind Mice, Janet Evanovich's Visions of Sugar Plums and Allison Pearson's I Don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother continued to be hot sellers this holiday season. Customers took advantage of savings offered on these titles, all available at 40 percent off the list price.
Amazon.com also announced today that it will be speaking at the Morgan Stanley Software, Services, Internet & Networking Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Tuesday, January 7, 2003, at 12:30 p.m. PST/3:30 p.m. EST and that it will Webcast its fourth quarter 2002 financial results conference call on Thursday, January 23, 2003, at 2:00 p.m. PST/5:00 p.m. EST. The audio of these events will be Webcast live, and available for three months thereafter, at www.amazon.com/ir.
About the Amazon.com Delight-O-Meter
The number of items ordered 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 canceled or returned. The Delight-O-Meter debuted on November 12, 2002, 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.com
Amazon.com, a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com seeks to be the world's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online at a great price. Amazon.com and sellers list millions of unique new and used items in categories such as apparel and accessories, electronics, computers, kitchenware and housewares, books, music, DVDs, videos, cameras and photo items, toys, baby items and baby registry, software, computer and video games, cell phones and service, tools and hardware, travel services, magazine subscriptions and outdoor living items.
Amazon.com operates five international Web sites: www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.co.jp and www.amazon.ca.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to potential future losses, significant amount of indebtedness, competition, strategic alliances and business combinations, seasonality, potential fluctuations in operating results and rate of growth, foreign-currency exchange rates, management of potential growth, system interruption, international expansion, consumer trends, fulfillment center optimization, inventory, limited operating history, government regulation and taxation, fraud and Amazon.com Payments, and new business areas. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001, and all subsequent filings.