This holiday season was a record (in terms of sales) for the online shopping giant Amazon as “millions of customers unwrapped Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire tablets this holiday season.”
The company reported sales of over 36.8 million on Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving in the United States), with an average of 426 products being sold per second.
The sales represent a 39% increase compared to Cyber Monday sales in 2012. In addition, this year more people used their mobile phones to buy products online. Fifty percent of the 36.8 million sales on Cyber Monday were carried out with a mobile phone.
The Seattle-based company mentioned that their latest service called “Amazon Prime” managed to attract a million new customers around the world in the third week of December.
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, said:
“Amazon Prime membership continues to grow, and we now have tens of millions of members worldwide. They benefit from all-you-can-eat free two-day shipping on millions of eligible items and our members have a voracious appetite. We are extremely grateful to our customers around the world and wish everyone the very best for the coming year.”
Cyber Monday sales – some interesting facts:
“The new Xbox One and PlayStation 4 gaming consoles were so popular that at the peak of sales for each console, customers bought more than 1,000 units per minute.”
“Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, Amazon customers ordered more than five toys per second from a mobile device.”
“Amazon customers purchased enough Rainbow Looms from third-party sellers that the bands can stretch around the circumference of the Earth.”
“Amazon customers purchased enough Hot Wheels from third-party sellers to stretch around the Daytona International Speedway racetrack.”
“Amazon customers purchased enough miniature flashlights to satisfactorily light four collegiate football fields in accordance with NCAA standards.”
“Amazon customers purchased enough youth archery kits to outfit every resident of Katniss Everdeen’s hometown, District 12, four times over.”
Video – What is Cyber
Cyber, which can be an adjective or prefix, refers to anything related to or characteristic of IT, computers, or virtual reality.