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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Amazon.com shipped more than 99 percent of holiday orders to
U.S. destinations in time to meet holiday deadlines.
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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.
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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):
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
